Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), Ålesund Aquarium, Norway

Description

One of the two most important species of cod is the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), which lives in the colder waters and deeper sea regions throughout the North Atlantic. Cod fishery is of high economic importance to some of the Atltantic countries such as Iceland and Norway. And cod fisheries are both key examples of drastic overexploitation (worst example: Newfoundland, where cod populations and the fishing industry collapsed entirely in the early 1990s) and sustainable fishery (such as the MSC certified fisheries in Norway and Iceland or the well-functioning Norwegian-Russian fishery management in the Barents Sea). Also on the Skagerak coast of Southern Norway local cod populations are important parts of the ecosystem.