for over 500 years the economy and culture of newfoundland depended on the cod fishery. it was who we were. that came to an abrupt end in 1991 with the announcement of the cod moratorium. because of over fishing - mostly offshore - the cod stocks were horribly depleted and the boats were pulled up on shore. in the past 16 years the face of newfoundland has drastically changed. st. john's (the capital city)continues to thrive (most recently because of lucrative offshore oil deals) but the smaller outport communities, that existed only because of the cod, are dying.
all weekend i worked at finsihing up a cod mailbox. these mailboxes (and my cod mats), keith calls my "cash cods". anything i produce with cod imagery sells immediately - not just to tourists but to newfoundlanders as well. i'm one of the few left who are still making money off of the cod...
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