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History
The Grand Banks Fishery
The fishing ground that fed Europe for 500 years - and collapsed catastrophically in 1992.
Era: Modern Region: North Atlantic
📖 Overview
The Grand Banks off Newfoundland were the most productive fishing ground on Earth from 1500 to the 1970s. Portuguese, French, English, and Canadian fleets harvested cod there continuously. Industrial trawling in the 1960s-80s pushed cod stocks past recovery. The 1992 Canadian moratorium ended the fishery. Thirty years later, cod still have not returned to commercial levels.