Like people, fish can be finicky eaters. Given a choice between herring and clams, a cod will go for the clams. Its next preference is squid (that’s calamari to you and me). On the other hand, a haddock will eat just about anything you put in front of it, even sausage — but we’ll get to that later.

One way to help make sure there are enough cod, haddock and flounder for us humans to eat in the future is to study what they are eating today.

With this in mind, a group of hook fishermen from Cape Cod began experimenting with different baits back in 2003 to see if they can be used to harvest the abundant haddock on nearby Georges Bank without harming its depleted cod.

In fact, the preliminary results proved so promising, additional support was given by the Northeast Consortium, the Kaplan Fund, and CRPI (the cooperative research branch of the National Marine Fisheries Service) to expand their research.

The findings could have substantial implications for the region’s commercial and recreational fishermen.

The impetus for the study came from fishermen’s longstanding assertion that cod will turn their noses up at the same bait that hooks haddock.

“Since haddock and cod spend the majority of their time on the bottom of the ocean and tend to aggregate in similar locations, fishermen who want to fish sustainably for haddock and avoid cod must develop innovative ways to do so,” said Tom Rudolph of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA), who helped direct the project.

In the early 1990s European researchers struggling with the same dilemma helped scientists formulate artificial bait that was proven to capture haddock, without landing large numbers of cod. Similar findings were later replicated by a Canadian team working on this side of the Atlantic.

Today, commercial trawlers are permitted access to parts of eastern Georges Bank where cod landings are heavily restricted, provided they use special gear known as a “haddock separator trawl.” However, no such opportunity exists for hook-and-line fishermen.

From the standpoint of the consumer, particularly those who prefer their fish be caught by local day-boat fishermen, maintaining the economic viability of small fishing communities such as Chatham and Harwich, Massachusetts, is nearly as important as preserving the ecological productivity of the resource: after all, fishermen have to be around to catch what we eat.

Indeed, ecology and economics are very often tied firmly together, which brings us back to the focus of the project at hand, and then to sausage.

For the government to allow hook-and-line fishermen to go after the plentiful haddock, they must first prove cod won’t be hurt in the process.

The artificial baits mentioned previously — marketed as Norbait and Trident — are manufactured in Norway and on the West Coast, and shipping them can get expensive.

To demonstrate that a similar concoction could be manufactured locally (and thus one day eliminate the cost of freight) the team partnered with Dr. Susan Goldhor and Cornell’s Department of Food Sciences to develop recipe attractive to cod, but unpalatable to the less fastidious haddock.

The baits are all a blend of byproducts from herring processing factories (which would otherwise be wasted) and food additives that are squeezed into sausage links. All the fabrications are biodegradable and frozen before shipping.

“We were interested not only in the bait’s ability to catch haddock and exclude cod, but also in the ease of baiting and hook cleaning, number of hooks coming up empty, and the fishermen’s general responses to this type of bait,” Rudolph said.

Eight commercial fishing vessels fished the three baits with longline gear in Georges Bank’s Closed Area 1. Sets of traditional herring and squid baited hooks were also tested.

The research was observed and administered by a trained, independent scientist and met Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) guidelines needed to fish in closed areas.

The weight, length and number of fish captured were recorded; the comparative catch rates per unit of fishing effort were calculated.

The results are significant. All three artificial baits substantially reduced the catch of cod relative to haddock, and to a greater extent than the fresh baits tested.

As with the other studies, the faux bait didn’t catch as much haddock as fresh bait, but the increased fishing opportunities offered would more than offset the difference, according to Rudolph.

In May, the results were well received the New England Fishery Management Council’s research steering committee, which passed it on to another committee for further analysis.

But Rudolph said that while his group’s proposal to target the abundant haddock on eastern Georges is adrift in bureaucracy, fish are going uncaught and fishermen are struggling financially.

An unfortunate waste, he said, particularly because data from several peer-reviewed studies shows fabricated bait to be far more selective than the haddock separator trawl currently being used there.

“The potential applications of this project are great for the fishermen in the entire northwest Atlantic ecosystem; indeed, anywhere that cod and haddock coexist,” said Rudolph.

Data from the project are stored on the New England Fishery Science Center’s SeaSamp archive and the CCCHFA’s database. A final report is available at www.ccchfa.org. q