Bernard Martin

Bernard Martin is a Canadian fisherman and environmentalist. He was awarded the Goldman Prize in 1999. Early life Martin was born and raised in a fishing family in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland. He continues in his family's traditional cod fishing practices as a fourth-generation fisherman. Cod fishing moratorium Cod fishing was a way of life in Newfoundland for centuries, but after the Second World War, commercial over-fishing and environmental factors began to take a serious toll, with populations in steep decline. Martin and other inshore fishermen noticed their dwindling catches and alerted government officials to the situation. They hoped that preemptively lowering cod quotas might curb the decline. The went so far as to create a protected fishing zone around Petty Harbour/Maddox Cove and formed a Fishermen’s Cooperative in 1983 to take control over the local industry. However, large-scale, offshore fisheries were much later to acknowledge the slowdown and continued to fish, ultimately leading to the collapse of the industry. Modern fishing equipment like monofilament bottom gill nets are particularly harsh on marine ecosystems. Martin and others continued to advise government officials that this was not sustainable.