‘Cod’ about past, future
The documentary “Sacred Cod” (9 p.m., Discovery, TV-PG) examines an ancient industry and a way of life vanishing before our eyes.
Much of “Cod” is shot in Gloucester, Massachusetts, a centuries-long fishing community with a distinctive culture. When Europeans first set about discovering and settling the New World, some went in search of gold. But New England settlers were confident that there was more wealth to be found in fishing cod. And they were correct. The fish were so plentiful that it was said you could walk across the Atlantic on the backs of the abundant cod.
Over the past generation, the cod population has nose-dived, inspiring limited catches and regulations.
Some researchers have estimated that cod has dwindled to as little as 3 percent of what it would take to constitute a healthy and sustainable population. In late 2014, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration banned virtually all cod fishing throughout the region. At the same time, scientists measured record warming in the Gulf of Maine, a development that threatened the microscopic plant life that sustains the ecosystem. Many fear that lobsters could be the next species to decline and/or vanish.
The quotas and fishing bans have forced hundreds of fishermen to sell their boats and abandon a way of life going back generations. Emotions naturally run high. “Cod” shows how the government and science itself have become convenient scapegoats.
The film, airing on the same network as “Deadliest Catch,” is remarkably balanced. But it also demonstrates how easily the anti-science position can be romanticized when marinated in resentment. It also demonstrates how the very nature of storytelling tends to “cast” researchers as heartless technocrats waging “a war” on a way of life. Longtime residents watching the young people move away and their communities fading want to blame somebody. And in this case, they are shooting a much less telegenic messenger.
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin. tvguy@gmail.com.