# Life after fishing on Fogo Island

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2015-09-09

architect-this-city, atc, athiscity, canada, cod-fishing, fogo-island, fogo-island-inn, island, monocle, monocle-magazine, moratorium, newfoundland, north-atlantic-cod, renaissance, shorefast-foundation, uncategorized, zita-cobb

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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ad0ae3b1a0a0b4a78df6534c8e062582.png)

[Fogo Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogo_Island,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador) is a small remote island off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada. As of 2011, the population was roughly 2,400 people.

For centuries the island was a thriving fishing community, particularly for cod. At its peak, [Canadian fisherman alone were bringing in 266,000 tons of cod every year](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/remembering-the-mighty-cod-fishery-20-years-after-moratorium-1.1214172).

But in 1992 the Canadian government put in place a moratorium on fishing North Atlantic cod. And it decimated the local economy. (Should we still be calling it a moratorium after all this time?)

However, thanks to people like [Zita Cobb](http://www.fastcompany.com/1702241/how-multimillionaire-zita-cobb-plans-turn-tiny-canadian-island-arts-mecca) and her [Shorefast Foundation](http://shorefast.org/), Fogo Island is in the midst of an entrepreneurial and cultural renaissance. Take a look at the [Fogo Island Inn](http://www.fogoislandinn.ca/fii/). It’s on my list of places to visit.

Back in 2013, Monocle Magazine published a two-part video series outlining what is happening on the island. You can watch part 1 of that series by [clicking here](http://monocle.com/film/business/fogo-island-part-1-entrepreneurship/) and part 2 by [clicking here](http://monocle.com/film/design/fogo-island-part-2-architecture/). Each video is under 10 minutes long.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/life-after-fishing-on-fogo-island)*