Commercial fishing for cod in the waters of the Grand Banks off Canada's east coast has been banned since 1994 due to a collapse in the cod population in the region in the early 1990s. Despite the ban, illegal fishing has continued to decimate the population. The WWF estimates that in 2003 alone, 90 percent of the population was caught under the guise of bycatch and later sold for profit.

Find out more: Cod Overfished in the North-West Atlantic Despite Ban (WWF)