Are Codfish Sacred?

 

Overlooking Massachusetts House members as they deliberate is the Sacred Cod, hung from the ceiling as a tribute to the state’s fishing industry. The solid-pine Cod has been in position for 232 years, first at the Old State House and then on Beacon Hill.

In years past I may have written about the Sacred Cod which hovers above Massachusetts legislators as they conduct their work. Describing a fish as sacred, and an ugly one at that may seem sacrilegious but it serves as a visual reminder of how important this species was to the regional economy. Iceland is a country that still harvests a lot of cod and while the industry doesn't rival tourism it is important to the economy.

Canada is notorious for allowing what seemed to be an infinite resource be depleted through the mismanagement of the vital cod fishery in Newfoundland. This led to a total closure of the commercial fishery for 30 years from 1992 onward putting tens of thousands out of work. Gradually a limited personal fishery was allowed.

We will return this summer to the outport area of Newfoundland where I served as I began my United Church ministry in 1980. A parishioner, a fisherman, told me then that the codfish collapse was imminent and he was correct. The factory trawler ships from Portugal and the large Canadian ships were scooping up the species in an unsustainable way. The days of a solitary fisher in a punt or dorry were long gone. 

                                                               David Blackwood Cod No.1 1995

Celebrated Newfoundland artist David Blackwood grew up in a fishing community and he appreciated the dark cloud that descended over the province.

I will be asking the fishers I know questions about the decision earlier this year to increase the cod catch quota substantially, opening it to larger vessels. Some scientists and those in the industry are sounding a note of caution given what happened in the past.

We will be able to purchase cod with the resultant chowder, fish cakes, burgers... my mouth is already watering. Hallelujah!

Of course, cod deserve to exist because they are the Creator's creatures and therefore sacred. I've never described them that way when I'm there, but surely it's true. In Cod we trust.