cod

Any fish of the family Gadidae, especially the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, found in the North Atlantic and Baltic. It is brown to grey with spots, with a white underbelly, and can grow to 1.5 m/5 ft in length.

The main cod fisheries are in the North Sea, and off the coasts of Iceland and Newfoundland, Canada. Much of the catch is salted and dried. Formerly one of the cheapest fish, decline in numbers from overfishing has made it one of the most expensive.

In January 2001, an emergency ban on cod fishing in parts of the North Sea was announced by European officials as part of a series of measures designed to prevent the collapse of threatened fish stocks. It was revealed that the spawning stock of cod in the North Sea had fallen from 277,000 tonnes in 1971 to 59,000 tonnes at the beginning of 2001, and more than 103,600 sq km/40,000 sq mi of sea were closed to fishing from 13 February for 10 weeks.