For Immediate Release: September 26, 2003

Contact:
Dr. Shelly Tallack
Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Program
Gulf of Maine Research Institute
(207) 772-2321
stallack@gma.org

Tagged Cod Bring Five Lucky Winners Cash Rewards

Portland, Maine – The Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Program is pleased to announce the winners of its first cash lottery. Five winners will each receive $200. To be eligible for the lottery, winners reported four critical pieces of information following the recapture of a tagged cod including tag number, recapture location, fish length and date captured.

This lottery is drawn for five categories depending on where the tagged cod were found: 1) Gulf of Maine and Canadian waters, 2) Georges Bank, 3) Cape Cod and vicinity, 4) New Hampshire and Massachusetts Inshore waters, and 5) Processing plants.

The winners for September 2003 are:
1) Sanford Atwood, Clark's Harbour, N.S., CA
2) Jorge Ruela, North Dartmouth, MA
3) Thomas Luce, West Barnstable, MA
4) Chris Smith, Gloucester, MA
5) Fraser O'Neill, Meteghan, N.S., CA

The Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Program represents the largest cod tagging program initiated to date along the eastern seaboard of the North American continent. The program aims to tag and release over 100,000 Atlantic cod between March 2003 and March 2005. This initiative arose from a need identified by regional groundfish fishermen and scientists to understand current distribution and migration patterns of Atlantic cod as important for management efforts to rebuild cod stocks.

A significant example of collaborative research, the program involves commercial fishermen and research organizations from Nova Scotia, Canada down to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. To date, over 38,000 cod have been tagged and nearly 400 tags have been recovered.

Fishermen and fish processors are asked to keep an eye open for these tagged cod. Anyone who returns recapture information will receive a reward (either a T-shirt, hat or mug). In addition, anyone who supplies the four key pieces of information (tag number, recapture location, fish length and date) will automatically be entered into the monthly cash lottery.

Tag recapture information can be reported by:

• calling our toll-free number, 1-866-447-2111 (free for US & Canada)
• visiting our website: www.codresearch.org
• or emailing us at codresearch@gma.org.