In 1992 the Canadian Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans <span>declared a </span>moratorium on the Northern Cod fishery when the Northern Cof biomass fell to 1% of its earlier level. Over 35,000 fishers and plant workers from over 400 coastal communities across Newfoundland became unemployed. <span>This increased economic diversification, and increased emphasis on education, and the emergence of a thriving invertebrates fishing industry (as the predatory </span>groundfish<span> population declined, </span>snow crab<span> and </span>northern shrimp<span> proliferated, providing the basis for a new industry that is roughly equivalent in economic value as the cod fishery it replaced).</span>
