Chedd-Angier
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saving the ocean

Episode 8: Cod Comeback?    Premiered on PBS January 10 2013    Watch on PBS

In the rich fishing grounds of New England and Canada, it seemed as if the cod would never run out – until they did. The shock reverberated throughout the world of commercial fishing: it was the early 1990s, and both the US and Canadian governments suddenly closed large parts of what had been some of the richest and most famous fishing grounds in the world: Georges Bank, the Scotian Shelf, and the Grand Banks. The fish that had made whole cities and regions rich, above all the cod, were crashing, perhaps on their way to extinction. Read More>>

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One of two beautiful baby cod caught by Carl Safina in Frenchman Bay-the first seen in the area in 15 years
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Our crew in the Gulf of Maine. From left to right: Soundman Jason O'Neill, Carl Safina, producer John Angier, cameraman Dan Lyons and skipper Ed Snell
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Catching cod in the Gulf of Maine
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Schooner ‘Columbia’ sets sail from Gloucester, Mass. bound for the rich off-shore cod fishing grounds. Thousands of schooners like these sailed from all the New England ports in the 1800s. Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection
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Boston fish pier in the early 1900s. The pushcarts in the foreground are filled with cod that has just been unloaded. Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection
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Codfish drying on ‘flakes’ in Gloucester, Mass., in the early 1900s. Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection
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Fisheries historians Bill Leavenworth and Karen Alexander show Carl Safina historic schooner logbooks at the National Archives Regional Center in Waltham, Mass.
 
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Episode 8 Resources

Download transcript Contact us to connect with people in this episode Related people and places Carl's Safina’s blog about making this episode Video Extras Check for broadcasts on your local PBS station Read the NY Times op-ed on the controversy over reopening closed areas in New England