Cod facing extinction in the Baltic Sea

Oxygen deficiency, worms from seals and starvation plaguing the fish in the eastern Baltic Sea

According to researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the cod population in the Baltic Sea is in dire straits.

A huge DTU Aqua research project pertaining to cod in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea showed that the fish are dogged by oxygen-depleted waters, worms from seals and starvation.

“It’s too late for the cod in the eastern Baltic Sea,” Stefan Neuenfeldt, a senior DTU Aqua researcher, told DR Nyheder.

“As it stands, I don’t think we can save the population. But we can help it survive and give it another chance in the Baltic Sea in 10-15 years.”

READ ALSO: Brexit fallout: Scottish fishermen selling stock in Denmark

No looking good
Twice a year, researchers in Denmark and other countries in the Baltic Sea catch cod to see how they are doing. 

Under 20 years ago, the biggest cod measured up to 80cm long and were healthy and strong. 

Today, there are fewer fish, they don’t grow above 50cm and the vast majority are struggling.

TOP STORIES

  • Becoming a stranger in your own country

    Becoming a stranger in your own country

    Many stories are heard about internationals moving to Denmark for the first time. They face hardships when finding a job, a place to live, or a sense of belonging. But what about Danes coming back home? Holding Danish citizenship doesn’t mean your path home will be smoother. To shed light on what returning Danes are facing, Michael Bach Petersen, Secretary General of Danes Worldwide, unpacks the reality behind moving back

  • EU Foreign Ministers meet in Denmark to strategize a forced Russia-Ukraine peace deal

    EU Foreign Ministers meet in Denmark to strategize a forced Russia-Ukraine peace deal

    Foreign ministers from 11 European countries convened on the Danish island of Bornholm on April 28-29 to discuss Nordic-Baltic security, enhanced Russian sanctions, and a way forward for the fraught peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow

  • How small cubes spark great green opportunities: a Chinese engineer’s entrepreneurial journey in Denmark

    How small cubes spark great green opportunities: a Chinese engineer’s entrepreneurial journey in Denmark

    Hao Yin, CEO of a high-tech start-up TEGnology, shares how he transformed a niche patent into marketable products as an engineer-turned-businessman, after navigating early setbacks. “We can’t just wait for ‘groundbreaking innovations’ and risk missing the market window,” he says. “The key is maximising the potential of existing technologies in the right contexts.”

  • Gangs of Copenhagen

    Gangs of Copenhagen

    While Copenhagen is rated one of the safest cities in the world year after year, it is no stranger to organized crime, which often springs from highly professional syndicates operating from the shadows of the capital. These are the most important criminal groups active in the city

  • “The Danish underworld is now more tied to Scandinavia”

    “The Danish underworld is now more tied to Scandinavia”

    Carsten Norton is the author of several books about crime and gangs in Denmark, a journalist, and a crime specialist for Danish media such as TV 2 and Ekstra Bladet.

  • Right wing parties want nuclear power in Denmark

    Right wing parties want nuclear power in Denmark

    For 40 years, there has been a ban on nuclear power in Denmark. This may change after all right-wing parties in the Danish Parliament have expressed a desire to remove the ban.

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

Sign up here

Career

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Contact us

Jobs