Canadian Atlantic Cod (''

Gadus morhua The Atlantic cod (''Gadus morhua'') is a benthopelagic fish of the family Gadidae, widely seafood, consumed by humans. It is also Commercial fishing, commercially known as cod or codling.Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

, along the borders of both

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Heavy fishing in these areas, in the late 1800s and early 1900s led to a massive decline in Cod population. Today, they are grown in onshore temperature controlled, seawater tanks as eggs and eventually taken to sea cages when more developed. The majority of these artificial environments found in Canada, are located in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

and as well as

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. It takes about six months for the fish to hatch followed by a 2-3 year period for them to reach their maximum selling size. It takes on average three years for a fish to reach a market weight of .

Raising Atlantic Cod

Almost all Atlantic Cod are now produced through

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lotus ...

, the rearing of aquatic animals for food. The raising of Atlantic Cod starts with the selection of the best female stock breed. These fish are selected from previously grown market fish, located in offshore sea cages. They are selected based on weight; typically heavier fish are able to produce more eggs. The female fish are bred in onshore tank facilities and can produce 450,000 eggs per kilogram of body weight. After separating the females, the eggs are incubated in a temperature controlled tank for about 14 days until hatching. The

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. T ...

(baby cod) are then transferred to larval tanks. During this stage the larvae are fed yolk from a yolk sack for 3 to 4 days. Once the larvae have grown large enough, they are fed ground

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a cr ...

. After a duration of 35 to 40 days of feeding on plankton, the larvae undergo metamorphosis and are now fully considered fish. After metamorphosis, the fish are removed from the larval tanks and put into onshore circular tanks. They remain in this stage for 6 months or until they reach centimeters in length. At this stage,

microchips An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny M ...

are sometimes inserted into the fish to monitor growth and collect information. The fish are then taken to sea cage sites via

industrial trucks Material handling equipment (MHE) is mechanical equipment used for the movement, storage, control, and protection of materials, goods and products throughout the process of manufacturing, distribution, consumption, and disposal. The different types ...

and

barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

. In the sea cages, the Cod grow reaching market weight () which can take 24-36 months.

Facilities and equipment

In commercial aquaculture there are two main areas of farming: the onshore facility and the offshore sea cages. In the onshore facility there are a number of storage tanks that are key to the early development of Cod and many other cold water fish. These livestock storage include: the incubators (where eggs are fertilized and allowed to hatch), the larval tanks (slightly larger tanks where the larvae is grown), the circular tanks (last stage before fish leave the onshore facility, where metamorphosis occurs) and finally storage tanks where the fish can be temporarily stored as they are transported from truck, to boat, to sea site. Before the fish are taken to sea cage sites, some companies insert microchips into the fish to monitor population and patterns in the fish to improve the raising for future generations. The microchips are removed once fish are ready for market. After being transported to the ocean via private company or government ships, the fish are gently poured into a sea cage.

Labor

In both onshore and offshore facilities Cod require daily maintenance. In the onshore facility an estimated team of 4 or 5 laborers are required for daily tasks, which include: feeding planktonic animals, regulating tank temperatures, monitoring health of fish (removing any sick fish), and general maintenance to the water facilities.

Inputs

As mentioned earlier in the egg stage of development, Cod are fed yolk, followed by

ic animals (ground plankton) in the larvae stage, and finally a pellet feed after leaving the onshore facility. The pellets fed to Atlantic Cod are mostly grain based, which are made of

fish oil Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the ...

, bone meal, vitamins and minerals. ;Nutritional information Once market size is reached, Atlantic Cod fish offer a bounty of nutrients including a surplus amount of complete proteins,

omega-3 fatty acid Omega−3 fatty acids, also called Omega-3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond, three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their che ...

s, iron and

B vitamin B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. Though these vitamins share similar names (B1, B2, B3, etc.), they are chemically distinct compounds that often coexis ...

s. Atlantic Cod when compared to other meat have a much lower level of saturated fat, while still holding a high protein level. In comparison, 98g of chicken provides about 18g of protein (under 40%). ;Benefits to Canada Atlantic Cod farming gives a direct 8000 full-time jobs in Canada and this number is growing. More jobs are becoming available due to increase in demand for fish. In 1986 Canadian Aquaculture production was valued at 35 million, by 2006 it was valued at 912 million and this pace is still growing as illustrated in figure 1. The jobs being created by this industry are also 90% located in rural, Aboriginal or small coastal cities. Just one example of this is in B.C, Kitasoo First Nation community, where aquaculture helped reduce unemployment to zero from 80 percent. Also an analysis by

Indian and Northern Affairs Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

determined that 61 First Nations could support salmon farms, 130 could develop trout farms and 123 would have access to clam, mussel and oyster farming. ;Constraints After the near extinction of natural Atlantic Cod in the wild, strict laws were made to prevent fishing of any sort. This led to aquaculture. However, the

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

in Canada is severely limited and regulated. 73 pieces of federal and provincial legislation regulates what is exactly allowed.

Environmental sustainability

Aquaculture (fish farming) is used for all Atlantic Cod production, so that the environment and natural (wild) fish species are essentially unaffected. Fish are sold without further processing, so little to none of the animal is wasted. The only environmental concern from Atlantic Cod is excess nutrients produced in their feces. If left un-filtered in natural environments, these feces could lead to

denitrification Denitrification is a microbially facilitated process where nitrate (NO3−) is reduced and ultimately produces molecular nitrogen (N2) through a series of intermediate gaseous nitrogen oxide products. Facultative anaerobic bacteria perform denitr ...

. However, in almost all commercial fish farms, feces are utilized (via vacuum) as liquid fertilizer, to be used for farm activities. Other beneficial environment factors are: factories are not required for further processing and feed source has minimal requirements from environment. Finally aquaculture developments need in-depth environmental review which includes Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA), to prevent harm from ocean habitats. Organic Atlantic Cod is also available as an alternative product. These fish are prohibited from antibiotics, herbicides, GMOs, parasiticides and practices that minimize negative effects on the environment.

Footnotes

References

# # # # # # # # {{cite web , title=Fish, cod, Pacific, raw Nutrition Facts & Calories , website=SELF Nutrition Data , url=http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4045/2 , ref={{sfnref , SELF Nutrition Data , access-date=March 13, 2020 Fish farming Agriculture in Canada