The Sunday Times - currently being pursued by the NFFO and taken to task over it continuing campaign to paint an entirely negative picture of the state of fish stocks - started the spat of stories with the appaling headline:
- Only 100 cod pensioners left in the North Sea
This was closely followed by other publications with similarly armageddon or sensationalist type headlines
- Just 100 cod left in North Sea - Daily Telegraph
- Good cod! - The Sun
- Adult cod numbers declining in the North Sea - Unexplained mysteries
Defra has responded in a short, sharp factual way to help lower the height of waves of angst with the following announcement:
Myth Bust: The Sunday Times claims that there are ‘fewer than 100 mature cod are left in the North Sea’
The myth: An article in The Sunday Times claimed that ‘fewer than 100 mature cod are left in the North Sea’.
The truth: This is completely wrong, in fact we know there to be around 21 million mature cod in the north sea. Cod start to mature from a year old and are fully mature at age six. There are a small number of cod over the age of 12 years old which has always been the case in the North Sea even when fished at lower levels in the 1950s and 1960s. Cod older than 15 have rarely been recorded in the North Sea.
Myth Bust: The Sunday Times claims that there are ‘fewer than 100 mature cod are left in the North Sea’
The myth: An article in The Sunday Times claimed that ‘fewer than 100 mature cod are left in the North Sea’.
The truth: This is completely wrong, in fact we know there to be around 21 million mature cod in the north sea. Cod start to mature from a year old and are fully mature at age six. There are a small number of cod over the age of 12 years old which has always been the case in the North Sea even when fished at lower levels in the 1950s and 1960s. Cod older than 15 have rarely been recorded in the North Sea.