Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997) is a nonfiction work of microhistory by Mark Kurlansky. The book chronicles the history of the cod fish, which is intertwined with issues of European colonialism, enormous shifts in trade and economy, and even war. Cod is also an exploration of the human impact on nature, the failures of environmental stewardship, and the need for greater conservation efforts. 

Kurlansky is a New York Times bestselling author who has written numerous works of nonfiction, including Salt: A World History (2002).

This study guide uses the 1997 paperback edition published by Penguin Books.

Content Warning: This guide and the source material discuss the European slave trade.

Summary

Cod is organized into three parts, with a Prologue and a collection of recipes at the conclusion. The Prologue introduces Sam Lee and the Sentinel Fishery in Newfoundland, Canada in 1995. The Sentinel Fishery is a project to monitor the cod stock on the Grand Banks following the 1992 Canadian moratorium against fishing for cod and other groundfish. Since the moratorium, many Newfoundland fishermen have been out of work. Their traditional catch, the cod, has been depleted after 1,000 years of fishing in the region.

In Part 1, the book jumps back in history to the medieval Basque people, a unique culture in Northwest Spain who secretly discovered the cod-abundant waters of the Newfoundland coast and brought their catch back dried and salt-cured. This salt cod was enormously popular among Europeans. When explorer John Cabot, in search of a western passage to Asia, arrived in Newfoundland in 1497, he brought the news back to England and began a gold-rush-like craze for cod fishing in North America.

Cod became a major motivation for British and French colonial projects in North America. The Pilgrims who fled England chose to resettle in Plymouth largely because of plentiful cod stocks. Before long, the cod trade from New England to Europe and the Caribbean—where New England merchants participated in the English and French slave trade—led to enormous wealth and economic success. This then fueled the drive for independence in the American Revolution.

Part 2 discusses the advancements and limitations of cod fishing. By the 19th century, technological innovations in fishing techniques and shipbuilding led to increased fish catches and increased demand. Clarence Birdseye’s new methods of freezing allowed fish processing plants to meet this new demand and sell fish while fresh. After World War II, these innovations combined in the large factory ships. The unprecedented size and success of these fishing vessels revealed the first serious dangers of overfishing.

For the first time, large fishing fleets came up against the limits of what nature could bear. Catches began to shrink in Canadian, American, and European waters. The depletion of fish stocks in the North Sea drove the English fishing fleets to take over the waters near Iceland. However, after WWII, Iceland placed stricter limits on foreign fishing in their waters, inciting a series of three “Cod Wars” between Iceland and England. The Cod Wars ended with the international agreement of 200-mile exclusion zones in the waters of each nation’s coastlines.

Finally, Part 3 returns to the present-day dilemma of overfishing that led to the 1922 Canadian moratorium. For several decades, local fishermen had reported smaller catches, warning the government that overfishing from large corporate vessels had depleted the stock. Canada ignored these warnings until the cod stock reached near-extinction levels, and all fishing in the region was banned. Now thousands of fishermen like Sam Lee are out of work. Similar bans and fishing limitations in New England waters have led to discontent among out-of-work fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts. There, locals fear that by the time the bans are lifted, there will be no fishermen to work the waters. 

The book ends with warnings that humanity is a part of interconnected systems of nature, no matter how they may wish to pretend otherwise. Humans must acknowledge the negative impact they have on nature and accept a duty to care for it in the future.