Icewater Seafoods in Arnold’s Cove has celebrated the first offshore northern cod to be caught and processed locally in more than a generation.

CEO Alberto Wareham says it’s been a long time coming.

“Our plant survived the moratorium by in the winter months producing frozen at-sea cod in Russia, Norway or the Faroe Islands, and this was the first time since the moratorium (in 1992) that we’re producing Canadian-caught offshore cod.”

Production started on Monday, and Wareham says most of their product—about 60 to 70 percent—is bound for European markets, however the other 30 to 40 percent goes to the United States, and that says Wareham, is a concern.

He says they have product leaving on trucks this weekend to try to get in before March 4 when threatened tariffs are set to take effect. “Cod is at an all-time high in the market because of significant quota cuts in Russia and Norway in the last 3-4 years,” says Wareham, “and our customers just can’t pay 25 per cent more.”