Article content“And a lot of mackerel. The amount of mackerel that’s in this bay now is unreal.”Article contentCarruthers agreed that a 114-cm cod is quite big to be caught on the south coast.Article content“That is a huge fish, and I don’t even know what the age of that fish would be because, at 80 centimetres, we think they’re around 10 years old,” she said.Article contentDuring that trip to the south coast in late June, 117 Atlantic cod were tagged and released. An additional 43 undersized cod — less than 45 centimetres long — were caught, measured and released that day.Article content“It’s not just humongous fish, it’s all sizes and age classes all the way through,” said Scott Smith, a science technician with FFAW-Unifor.Article content“There’s something changing. It’s really nice to see.”Article content Scott Smith, a science technician with FFAW-Unifor, measures a cod caught off the south coast of Newfoundland during a tagging and release program trip to the area in late June 2025. Photo by Scott Smith /FFAW-UniforArticle contentExciting, but …Article contentAs thrilling as it is to see, Carruthers said it remains difficult to be able to track and understand what these big fish mean, in terms of whether there has been a shift in distribution patterns or if these large fish have been missed in the stock assessment.Article contentArticle content“We cannot (do that) because there is no data being collected from the recreational fishery,” she said. “So, it’s actually a huge problem in the assessment and understanding, not only the fish themselves, but also the impacts from the recreational fishery.”Article contentIt can be done, but Carruthers said collecting accurate data from the recreational fishery would require a significant investment and would need to be a priority for DFO.Article contentSuch a system would likely require increased monitoring of the recreational fishery, dockside checks, at-sea checks and probably some sort of tagging system where people would have to report the number, size and location of the cod they’ve landed.Article content“Right now, it’s really exciting to see large fish, but you can’t put it in context because the data aren’t there,” said Carruthers.Article content“It’s pretty frustrating, to be honest. When we see fish show up in large sizes in unexpected places, it means that there’s probably a shift in the migration … To manage the fishery well, you do need to know how much is coming out of the different components and, right now, we don’t have that information coming from the recreational fishery.”Article contentArticle content🎣 Filming codfishing from the cliffs of Salvage, NL—stunning scenery and a few nice cod caught from shore. 🌊🐟 Video coming soon! #Codfishing #SalvageNL #scenery #oceanview #codfishPosted by The Outdoor Guys on Sunday, July 6, 2025Article content‘Great, if we had it’Article contentSome people have been calling for a loosening of the restrictions on the recreational groundfish fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador.Article contentAt the moment, the fishery is only open on weekends, with a daily bag limit of five fish per person or 15 per boat with three or more people aboard.Article contentAdvocates for change want to see the bag limit increased and the season to be open daily all summer long. They rationalize such changes by noting there is now a commercial fishery for northern cod because the stock is now being deemed healthier than it has been in recent times.Article contentThey also say limiting it to weekends prevents some from participating and also forces some to take unnecessary risks by choosing to go on the water in poor conditions on the few days the fishery is open.Article contentFor Carruthers, expanding the recreational fishery is a political issue more than a scientific one, but said removing more fish without any documentation is obviously going to have a negative effect overall.
Big unknown: Lots of cod landed, but NL recreational fishery yielding no helpful science
