'There were no major losses in genetic diversity and no major changes that suggested intensive fishing induced evolution. 'We found that cod likely did not evolve in response to fisheries,' Pinsky said. The concern has been that if the fish have evolved, they may not be able to recover even if fishing is reduced, according to Pinsky. Cod now mature at a much earlier age, for example. Many debates over the last few decades have centered on whether cod have evolved in response to fisheries, a phenomenon known as fisheries-induced evolution. Early explorers named Cape Cod in Massachusetts for the species because it was so abundant off New England, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Cod can reach 51 inches long, weigh up to 77 pounds and live more than 20 years. waters, cod is most common on Georges Bank and in the western Gulf of Maine, but both fish stocks are overfished. In the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, cod range from Greenland to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The study, which focuses on Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) off Newfoundland in Canada and off Norway, appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. We can't use evolution as a scapegoat for avoiding the hard work that would allow cod to recover.'

'Our findings suggest instead that more attention to reducing fishing and addressing other environmental changes, including climate change, will be important for allowing recovery. Pinsky, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. 'Evolution has been used in part as an excuse for why cod and other species have not recovered from overfishing,' said first author Malin L.