May 29, 2015 — Young students throughout Massachusetts look on with wonder at the large wooden Sacred Cod during field trips to the State House. Down in Berkley, at the Dighton Rock Museum, a similar cod sculpture was unveiled in 2011, in what the former DCR commissioner called a symbol of friendship. The cod is very important to the local Portuguese community and culture, which was part of the reason for the formation of the Academy of Codfish of New England, in addition to promoting the health benefits of eating the white, protein-laden fish.
That beloved fish remains as important as ever and for that reason a group of Massachusetts researchers have been cutting open the abdominal cavities of cod, implanting acoustic transmitters and then tracking their movements using a system of receivers attached to anchors in the Gulf of Maine. Doug Zemeckis, a fisheries research technician for UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology, said with declining cod populations in New England fisheries, he is glad that the research is actually being put to use as part of recommendations to state and federal regulators.
“Most of our work studying the remnant cod spawning areas is to understand their behavior, connectivity and movements during the year,” said Zemeckis, who started his work in 2009 as a master’s student, now finishing his doctorate.
Read the full story at The MetroWest Daily News