Fisheries committee calls for more study of East Coast cod, capelin stocks
OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee is urging the Fisheries Department to conduct annual studies of the northern cod population off Newfoundland and Labrador to track its recovery.
The MPs also urge annual studies of the population of capelin, a key food source for the cod.
The report of the committee on fisheries and oceans says the cod stock is slowly rebounding from the 1992 collapse which killed the commercial fishery and sent tremors through the province.
It also urges the Fisheries Department to hire more scientists to track the cod population and says the department should also limit the seal population, since those animals prey on both cod and capelin.