I headed over to the Libertine Bar this weekend to indulge in their weekend fish and chips special with a few cold Boddingtons. The move was a preemptive measure based an article published in The New York Times this weekend, which hints that cod fisheries could be in trouble.
The story didn't arrive at a firm conclusion about the state of cod fisheries off the coast of New England, but it was quite clear about the cod fishermen who work the waters: They're under the gun.
While a federal study describes cod as well on its way to recovery, a 2008 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey, which previously agreed with the positive conclusion, might have drastically overestimated the number of young cod, the Times reported.
Now federal regulators are meeting to decide whether to cut fish quotas by as much as 90 percent, or even close the waters off the coast of Maine completely -- an action that would cripple area fishermen who make a living hauling cod from the Atlantic.
The article doesn't take a guess at what the effect of closing the fishery would be on consumers, but decreased supply almost always means increased costs. The potential impact on area bar food is obvious: Fish and chips will cost more, hence my trip to the Libertine (that, and I'm always working on my waistline).
Libertine's fish and chips has a crisp coating draped around small pieces of cod. It was a good plate, but not the best I've had in Dallas. The Londoner in Uptown still has my favorite plate.
Editor's Note: We realize that the pun in the headline was a little lazy, so we wanted to let you know that we didn't just slap it on and hit publish. We considered several other cod puns, including:
Do You Believe in Cod? Cod Almighty The Word of Cod The Cods Must Be Crazy 2 Are You There Cod, It's Me Vodka Tim Tebow
