Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

Fishing is a notoriously dangerous profession. The ice floes in the North Atlantic split off from Greenland and the Arctic and drift south into fishing waters, creating dangerous obstacles. Fishing in the cold often leads to frostbite and missing fingers, which can end a fisherman’s career. Though fishermen share a camaraderie, fishing is still a struggle for financial survival and anyone who cannot pull their own weight is often harassed out of the fishery.

From the 1600s through the 1930s, cod and other ground fishing consisted of going out onto the Banks with a ship and sending out small dories with two-man crews. The dories were small, deckless, and maneuvered with oars, which were often lost at sea. Dorymen were known for their toughness, bravado, and competitiveness. Entire ships were often lost as well. Fishermen have some of the highest fatal accident rates of any kind of work. In a 1983 British study, the death rate among fishermen was 20 times higher than that in manufacturing. Meanwhile, a 1985 Canadian report stated that “212 out of every 100,000 Canadian fishermen die on the job, compared to 118 forestry workers, 74 miners, and 32 construction workers” (117).