Study: Icelandic cod stock is imperiled

Via PLoS ONE
A new study out of the Institute of Biology at the University of Iceland finds it likely that the Icelandic cod stock is imperiled and recommends immediate action be taken to avert a collapse similar to that of the northern cod of Newfoundland.

Can anything be done to avert collapse? Upon collapse of the northern cod of Newfoundland the Canadian government imposed a moratorium on fishing [11]. Such a drastic measure if imposed in Iceland doubtless would avert collapse. Alternatively management measures that shifted fishing from shallow-water to deep-water or measures that distributed fishing effort evenly over all depth ranges by controlling fishing by different gear also could possibly help avert collapse.

However, we consider that such strategies would be difficult to implement. Alternatively we speculate and suggest that it may be possible to avert collapse by adopting a different strategy of removing selection pressures against shallow-water adapted AA and AB fish. This highlights the use of evolutionary thinking for management and conservation issues. Given that current practices are ineffective in protecting shallow-water adapted fish, we suggest that immediate action is required.

Intense Habitat-Specific Fisheries-Induced Selection at the Molecular Pan I Locus Predicts Imminent Collapse of a Major Cod Fishery