Doomsday scenario as cod stocks at point of no return

THE world’s cod stocks could be wiped out by 2020 because of over-fishing, illegal catches and oil exploration, the environment group WWF said yesterday.

WWF the World Wide Fund for Nature said the world's largest remaining cod stock, in the Arctic Barents Sea, is under particular threat.

In a report, WWF said that the world's cod fisheries are disappearing fast, with a global catch that declined from 3.1 million metric tonnes in 1970 to 950,000 metric tonnes in 2000. "If such a trend continues, the world's cod stocks will disappear in 15 years time."