Dear Editor; The financial as well as the moral value of the inshore cod fishery to rural Newfoundland and Labrador is not taken seriously by our politicians, both federally and provincially. A few weeks ago, one of our leading fisheries scientists, a person who over the years has received a lot of respect from our inshore fisher people, a person who many fisher people say “talk their language,” made a statement in the news media. In the published news release this scientist talks about two studies he did on the northern cod. The first one was carried out in 1993 at the beginning of the cod moratorium. In that study he found lots of shrimp but no cod. The latter study was carried out this past spring 2012, in which he found the opposite: no shrimp but lots of cod. Not only did he find lots of cod, but large cod. The scientist didn’t hint that this showed that the shrimp was all gone and the cod was back; what he did talk about was the warmer temperature of the water around the shore and that probably the shellfish have moved to colder, deeper water, whereas the cod is moving inshore into warmer water. Why this change doesn’t matter. All we know is that the cod is once again making an appearance along our shore just like the fishermen have been saying for quite some time now. A prime example is a fisherman from Conche who has fished for 50 years. He hauled his nets a few days ago and he says he never ever saw the cod so plentiful and large. Likewise, a fisherman from Englee. And as I write, the waters off St. Anthony and all along the northeast coast are teeming with cod. A couple of days ago I chatted with a crew member of a mackerel fishing boat who went off St. Anthony to look for mackerel but couldn’t find any on the surface. So they decided to lower the hooks down to see if they were down deep, but had problems getting their hooks to sink. When they pulled them back they were full of large cod fish. I think the time has come all along the northeast coast to get the inshore cod fishery started up. Not with the shameful little quotas they have now, which isn’t sufficient to pay for their expenses. They need a quota whereby they can make money from their work. Also a quota whereby our plant workers can get back on the cod assembly line, the way it was. The return of the cod to rural Newfoundland and Labrador means more to those people than Muskrat Falls, mineral mines or oil wells, from which rural residents get very little benefit. If there is a sour note to this story, it is the little interest shown by all of our politicians towards it. Makes one wonder if they are saying, “Cod fish – big deal.”     Submitted By: NULL