The Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Lottery is open to the general public*. Anyone who reports a tagged cod and provides us with the Essential Tag Recapture Information will be entered into the lottery (for a total of 24 months of lottery drawings from September 2003 onwards).

The Essential Tag Recapture Information (ETRI) includes the following four criteria: tag number, date, location, and fish length.

There will be one entry for each tag returned with all ETRI (i.e. an individual who supplies the ETRI for two tags in a given month, will be entered into the lottery twice that month).

The lottery will take place monthly. Each drawing will result in awards being given in five "categories." These categories reflect the recapture location for the tag, and are as follows:

The award amount will be $200 per category per month.

The lottery is executed by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI). GMRI will sort the eligible entrants by recapture category (1-5) and draw one winner for each category. Winners will be contacted by telephone, email or mail.

Each lottery drawing will include names from the previous month (i.e. a drawing for November 2003 would include all tag reporters from October, 2003).

Each month’s winners will be posted on the Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Program’s website: http://www.codresearch.org/Winners_to_date.htm.

A list of winners is available from the Northeast Regional Cod Tagging Program, at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. To obtain this list, please call us using our toll-free number, 1-866-447-2111.