Fisheries Impacts on North Atlantic Ecosystems: Catch, Effort and National/Regional Data Sets
Portuguese Catches of Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) in Canada for hte Period 1896-1969: A comparison with NAFO Data
Maria Lucilia Coelho and Kim A. Stobberup
Portuguese Fisheries and Sea Research InstituteAbstract
From 1896 to 1934, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) landings from the Portuguese fishery in Canadian waters were relatively low. However, they increased gradually, and were closely related to the number of boats (‘lineships’) in the fishery. This fishery was highly selective for larger-sized cod, which resulted in few discards. After 1936, trawlers appeared in the fishery, and became increasingly used until they finally outnumbered the lineships in 1969. As a
result, both the catch and value of the cod fishery increased dramatically during this period. The cod catch data fit very closely with NAFO data after they are converted from dried salted weight to wet weight caught. Discards and nonreported catches were likely minimal as a result of Portuguese fishery policy measures, which are discussed.