The Truth About Cod

Cod is found naturally in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a large, dark fish covered in small spots, and a defining characteristic of all species of cod is the chin barbel, an organ that looks like a small hook beneath the fish's chin, which helps cod locate food in dark or opaque water. Though they can grow to be about 200 pounds, it is most common to find cod around 25 pounds. Still, that puts them at a large enough size to be considered a predatory fish, feeding on medium-sized fish, invertebrates, and occasionally each other.

To reproduce, female and male cod release their eggs and sperm, respectively, into the water at the same time, which is a process known as broadcast spawning. Conditions must be perfect for the sperm to successfully fertilize the eggs, making this form of reproduction largely reliant on external circumstances such as currents, water temperature, and predator density, among others. Though Atlantic cod are some of the most fecund fish in the sea, very few young cod survive to adulthood because of all these external factors that make them vulnerable.

Once one of the larger oceanic fish, reaching up to six and a half feet and 211 pounds, cod fish have steadily decreased in size over the last several decades, likely due to the effects of overfishing. Many smaller cod are able to escape from fishing nets, giving them an advantage over their larger counterparts. Scientists have theorized that because of this man-made threat, cod have evolved to grow slowly to survive a fishing industry that has significantly reduced their population for decades.

Cod sizes vary, averaging six to 12 pounds when closer to shore where they are frequently fished and about 25 further away. Despite their stunted growth, cod remain a predatory fish, swimming near the ocean floor to feed on lobster and other invertebrates. According to Oceana, only sharks eat adult Atlantic cod, though their younger counterparts are preyed on by several other medium-sized underwater creatures.

Between the 1970s and 2006, Atlantic cod fish became dangerously close to disappearing entirely due to decades of unsustainable fishing practices. Because of its popular demand around the world, New England's booming fishing stocks quickly became almost entirely depleted. Despite efforts to revive the cod fish population and a brief period of success between 2006 and 2017, cod numbers have continued to plummet in recent years.

Despite the imminent threat to this popular and delicious fish, policy decisions are still largely made based on company profit instead of long-term sustainability and the health of our oceans. The New England Fishery Management Council has implemented some limitations on cod fishing, but according to the Conservation Law Foundation, these measures do very little to protect Atlantic cod from extinction in the long run. In fact, in 2008, a study predicted that Atlantic cod would go extinct within 20 years. Plus, with the added complication of climate change threatening cod lives, what was once a staple in the American economy could quickly become an example of corporate greed and environmental ignorance.

In Scandinavian countries, winters are dark and cold. The Vikings survived these long, brutal months thanks in large part to their seafood diet. Cod in particular was instrumental in providing the Vikings with the nutrients needed to live through a time when comforts were few and disease was endemic.

In Europe, as people migrated across the continent and began settling farther and farther north, one disease in particular became quite common. Particularly prevalent in children, this illness caused the bones to become pliant and deformed, creating painful skeletal disfigurements in its victims. But Vikings, with their brute strength and nearly unmatched battle forces, were somehow immune to this particular disease.

It took until the 1920s for doctors to discover that what is now known as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, is caused by a vitamin D deficiency. When sunlight hits our skin, it turns cholesterol into vitamin D, which is a necessary nutrient for building strong, healthy bones. For many Europeans in the early days of the colonized continent, the lack of sunshine combined with a low-seafood diet resulted in severe bone deformities. The Vikings, on the other hand, ate large amounts of cod, which are rich in, among other nutrients, vitamin D.

Portugal is known for having a different cod recipe for every day of the year. Though cod do not naturally occupy Portuguese coastlines, they became a delicacy in the European nation as early as the 16th century when Portuguese fleets sailed to the Newfoundland coast and returned with cod. By burying the fish in salt, the fishermen could preserve it for the weeks it took to arrive back on Portuguese land. Ever since then, bacalhau, or salted cod, has been a staple in Portuguese cuisine. 

Bacalhau can be found in almost every Portuguese restaurant, and it has been nicknamed "the faithful friend." Though it looks a little frightening (and emits quite the stench) when it is dried and hung from its tail at Portuguese markets, when re-hydrated and prepared with ingredients such as potatoes, onions, or scrambled eggs, bacalhau is transformed into a delicious local specialty beloved by locals and tourists alike. One of the most famous Portuguese dishes, bacalhau a bras, serves the salted cod with other traditional Portuguese ingredients, such as eggs, potatoes, and black olives.

Despite its long history and popularity in the United States, cod was not always considered a high-quality seafood option. Similar to the way pollock is often served today, cod was once relegated mainly to fast food chains and school cafeterias, where its affordability made it the perfect filler for cheap seafood-based items. 

According to The New York Times, in the early '90s, high-end restaurants and chefs began incorporating cod into their menus with increasing frequency, inspired by the fish's mild flavor and low price tag. Chefs began replacing more expensive fish, such as red snapper or tuna, with cod, and as if overnight, it became a trendy menu item in popular restaurants. Because cod was thought of as "common," pretentious chefs and diners had avoided it for years. But as it became more prevalent on expensive menus in dimly lit restaurants, their fancy taste buds, apparently, grew to enjoy the (really quite inoffensive to begin with) taste of cod.

The Gulf of Maine, where Atlantic cod have been fished for decades, is one of the most rapidly warming parts of the ocean. The cod that swim these waters prefer temperatures less than 53 degrees Fahrenheit, and as the New England waters creep toward that limit, cod and other fish native to the area have begun migrating north and farther from the shoreline in search of colder temperatures. 

Cod are not able to reproduce as successfully in warmer waters as they are in the cold waters they are accustomed to, which puts their populations at risk of plummetting even more than they already are in these changing seas. As cod populations decline, fisheries have not been able to mitigate the problem sustainably, causing multiple threats to the future existence of Atlantic cod. Climate change has exacerbated the overfishing that has endangered cod for decades, and it will only make it more difficult to bring cod populations back up, even if commercial fisheries drastically reduce the number of fish they catch.

Experts and officials must ask themselves what they can do to ensure the cod's continued success in our oceans — especially if we still want to see them on our dinner plates.