Award

Responsible operation of ropeless fishing gear to avoid whale entanglements must involve a method of rapid retrieval if gear surfaces at a different place and/or time than expected. Blue Ocean Gear has demonstrated the capability of innovative Smart Buoy devices to locate ropeless buoy systems immediately upon reaching the surface. This proposed project will prove operational compatibility on a larger scale and in more fisheries. This technology improves commercial ropeless operations by providing fishermen with an immediate location signal upon surfacing, allowing them to recover gear more reliably and efficiently and time their trips if the ropeless device is passively activated. This technology allows trap fishermen to fish responsibly using ropeless techniques, avoiding whale entanglements as well as lost gear. The Smart Buoy is equipped with GPS tracking and conveys position data to a mobile application on a fisherman’s smart device. The system is affordable, reliable, and compatible with any fixed-gear configurations. This proposed project will evaluate performance in joint deployments with ropeless buoy systems with commercial fishermen in various fisheries, incorporating any improvements to the design based on feedback from the fishers. Design-to-manufacturing considerations will be implemented in preparation for manufacturing and production is put into place.