ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland — The Canadian government has ended the Newfoundland and Labrador cod moratorium, which gutted the Atlantic coast province’s economy and transformed its small communities more than 30 years ago.
“Ending the northern cod moratorium is a historic milestone for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,” said federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier in a news release. “We will cautiously but optimistically build back this fishery with the prime beneficiaries being coastal and Indigenous communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.”
John Crosbie, who was federal fisheries minister at the time, famously said, “I didn’t take the fish out of the goddamned water!” to a group of fishermen upset about the dwindling fish stocks. He announced the moratorium a day later. The cod moratorium was supposed to last for two years. But when that deadline passed, fish stocks did not show signs of recovering.