Over-fishing in Boston’s section of the Atlantic Ocean can best be described as a tragedy of the commons. This term denotes the utter depletion, and the eventual breakdown of a generally common but scarce resource which occurs when people act egocentrically to take full advantage of the commons in hot pursuit of personal gains. The tragedy of commons theory also encompasses fundamental terms relevant to the Boston scenarios which include; carrying capacity, sustainable development and resilience. It is a detrimental environmental hazard and economic malpractice referring to the commercial or non-commercial exploitation of fishing activity which slowly but constantly depletes a given fishery by indiscriminately catching too many fish so that only very few remain to reproduce, replenish and propagate the species. Overfishing surpasses the optimum carrying capacity that nature dictates for a fishery. This hence offsets the ecological balance of the fishery which subsequently triggers a string of resultant consequences that may be catastrophic and irreversible if the mess is not revoked in good time. The fish gradually grow fewer and fewer, till eventually such fishery has none or too few to catch. It is fishing practice with adequately high proliferation to lessen the reproducing stock levels to a degree that they no longer sustain an adequate volume of fish for economic harvest nor sport.
The historical context of the overfishing practice in Boston’s part of the Atlantic Ocean dates back to as early as the 17 th century. In the year 1693, the legislature of Massachusetts tried in vain to scale down overfishing by vehemently instructing fishmongers to desist from using cod fish as a bio-fertilizer. However, this fell on deaf ears since it showed negligible effect. For the following whooping three hundred years, fleets and fleets of huge boats complete with advanced and superior technologies gobbled up the cod fish from the Banks of Georgia and Massachusetts. Sadly, the larger Grand Banks which besiege Canada all the way to Newfoundland and New England were not spared either. The Atlantic cod fish is an extremely stout and bountiful species, but unsurprisingly, it could not brave the piercing and pungent stress inflicted by a chain of fishing boats and trawlers armed to the teeth with geographical positioning system-guided fish locating sonars and echo-sounders.
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Equally unsurprisingly, the fishmongers and business magnates of the day tussled and outdid conservation efforts designed to cut down their ‘livelihood’, hence repudiating scientific substantiation that the people were selfishly harvesting off the future of their posterity. Boston’s looming cod-fishing industry menacingly bowed down and closed its doors at about the same time with Newfoundland’s sector at the beck and call of the federal government and the government of Canada respectively within the 1990s. The Fisheries Management Council of New England can be rated as among the most sluggish of the eight councils in the United States in limiting overfishing of the vital and endangered fish species such as cod. That is why Boston holds the record of the highest overfishing rates in America. Fortunately, the US government finally intervened, hence prohibiting all sorts of cod fishing whether using nets or trawlers, plus recreational fishing, for the following at least 3 decades.
The forlorn hope becomes that the total count of the Maine Gulf cod fish has nosedived to as less as one percent of the once mighty and overwhelming shoals which infested the coasts and deeps of Atlantic. The fishery of Newfoundland has now been padlocked for pretty over 30 years, and there exist not even the dimmest shimmers of optimism that the populace is recuperating. Other species, though almost equally overfished, seem to have regrouped and taken over the Boston marine ecosystem. Maine Gulf Cod meat is now a fable long gone and buried in the abyss of oblivion.
A lot of dominant discourses explain how the social, cultural and political structures have been impacted by this environmental concern. The social impact has been immense and far reaching. Some places whose relevance and meaning was derived from cod fishing have now become obsolete and antediluvian. Atlantic cod had remained the Boston’s state fish. The sprawling but once vibrant Cape Cod coins its name from the profuse copiousness of the species dating back to the days of Bartholomew Gosnold. One century ago, the once renowned Noman’s Land, a minor island lying south of the city of Aquinnah, had once been a lively sturdy abode to a mushrooming community of fishermen. It is now a rudimentary shanty township bearing the hollow name - Codtown.
There has been a big cultural impact. The cod was the cultural symbol of the people of Massachusetts and Boston at large but now it is gone. Native fishmongers had established many impermanent households at Codtown. They got down to catching fish by use of drop lines, harpoons, baited traps, hooks and modified sinkers and they could effortlessly fill up their trawlers. Cod fish did not just feed the mouths of Island people, but also the food was preserved and transported to the dry land in wood boxes and by barrels. Miserably, times have now changed and cod-inspired culture has faded away. The economy has not been spared too. All the industries that were once dependent on fishing have now been closed down. Were it not for overfishing, the world could still be responsibly enjoying the benefits of cod.
Scientists say that cod may be following the route of the carrier pigeon, heath hen, mammoth and the dinosaur. One does not have to catch the last cod to make it extinct. Instead, once a given amount is taken the fish advance to a definite irreparable small count that may trigger extinction. At a certain juncture along the flop, the species tips over to a point at which no ability to recover exists. What a sad artificial twist of fate!
References
Alexander, K. E., Leavenworth, W. B., Cournane, J., Cooper, A. B., Claesson, S., Brennan, S., Smith, G., ... Rosenberg, A. A. (December 01, 2009). Gulf of Maine cod in 1861: historical analysis of fishery logbooks, with ecosystem implications. Fish and Fisheries, 10, 4, 428-449.
Bonnell, C. (2012). Evolution of seafood sustainability certification standards: Key trends & considerations .
Hardin, G. J. (2009). The Tragedy of the Commons . Santa Barbara: University of California.
Hilborn, R., & Hilborn, U. (2012). Overfishing: What everyone needs to know . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
