Cod

Most of our lab's research on Atlantic cod to date has focused on understanding how Atlantic cod diet and body condition, an indicator of overall physiological health, have changed over time and space. This research has indicated that cod condition has been very low when cod population sizes have declined and that these changes have occurred across multiple cod populations around Newfoundland and Labrador. These findings indicate that changes in condition may be driven by large oceanographic processes and that declines in condition may eventually lead to cod starvation. This starvation appears to be linked to limited availability of high quality forage fish prey, for example, capelin and sand lance.