East Coast Cod Recovery: Hints in 2011, Facts Today.

Four years ago,  cod had rebounded to 37% of their pre-crash levels.  Now everyone is noticing as The Telegram reports:

Leo Hearn remembers fishing cod before 1992, and the sense of impending disaster, as the fish got smaller and more scarce. Hearn also remembers going fishing in the early years of the food fishery, and having a hard time finding fish.

Photo in Telegram story.

 Hearn, who’s been fishing out of Petty Harbour for decades, said he’s seeing fish show up in places that they haven’t been seen for a generation or more.These days, Hearn said that when he was out on the water over the past few weeks, the fish were everywhere.

“Last year was a pretty good sign of fish around, and this year was even better — more places, and a really good sign, places like Renews Rock. They hadn’t been there in 15 years, and the fish are back there now,” he said. “Ferryland right on down to Calvert, Bay Bulls, all those places are seeing a lot of fish.”

When over-fishing was the norm, small fish that adult cod were not eating began to prevail over all cod by eating cod juveniles.

h/t to Bourque for the story link.

Link to the early days.