Declining fish stocks
Overfishing caused the Atlantic cod fishery in Canada to collapse in 1992. The federal government placed a moratorium on the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. Since then some fishing grounds have recovered slowly since then and they have been opened for limited fishing.
Impact on people in the coastal communities
Fishing is very important to the culture and economy of many coastal communities in Canada. As the fish stocks decline, fishermen have expanded to deeper water, changed to other species such as shellfish, stopped fishing, or they have expanded into fish farming which is also known as aquaculture.