Claws and Effect

White-tablecloth dining didn’t have much of a presence in rural Newfoundland during the early half of the twentieth century, so whenever my grandfather found a greenish-brown antennaed crustacean in his cod nets, he’d feed it to his hens. I can only imagine how good their eggs must have tasted. Historically, Newfoundland’s waters were too cold to support a lobster fishery like those in the milder Maritimes next door, and any spawn that did manage to survive the unforgiving Labrador Current would be hunted by cod: the Rock’s once mighty king is a voracious predator of juvenile lobster. The shellfish was considered a “poor man’s” food until lobster thermidor, that rich French dish, gained popularity in the twentieth century.

Lately, though, climate change has heated the ocean enough that the capricious bottom-feeders are finding Newfoundland’s coasts far more hospitable, and, ironically, the collapse of the legendary cod has allowed the newcomers to flourish. In 2024...