27
Jan 2009 - A $US 57,500 prize fund is on
offer for the best new fishing gears designed
to reduce bycatch in the fourth International
Smart Gear Competition, launched today by
WWF.
Over 4 million sharks,
billfish, sea turtles, marine mammals and
seabirds are caught each year on longlines
in the Pacific Ocean alone as unwanted bycatch,
with many being discarded dead or dying
back into the sea. Globally, millions of
tons of untargeted fish that are caught
in nets or become hooked on longlines are
also wasted each year.
“Bycatch is one of the
greatest and most pervasive threats to life
in the oceans,” said Bill Fox, vice president
of fisheries for WWF-US.
The Smart Gear Competition
seeks real-world fishing solutions that
allow fishermen to fish 'smarter'— better
targeting their intended catch while safeguarding
birds, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine
life from being unintentionally caught.
Last year’s grand prize
winners were a team of U.S. inventors from
Rhode Island, who designed fishing gear
to capture haddock while reducing the accidental
netting of other marine species, such as
North Atlantic cod. The device works by
taking advantage of the haddock’s tendency
to swim upward when encountering the net,
while other fish, which have a tendency
to swim downwards, are directed through
an escape hatch. The design is now being
used in commercial fisheries off the north-eastern
coast of the United States and is being
tested for use in the United Kingdom and
other European fisheries.
“The Smart Gear Competition
has proven effective in galvanizing creative
thinkers from around the world to come up
with innovative devices to enable fishermen
to fish more sustainably”, Fox said.
The competition is open
to eligible entrants from any profession,
including fishermen, professional gear manufacturers,
teachers, students, engineers, scientists
and backyard inventors. The winner of the
Smart Gear Competition will be decided by
a diverse set of judges, including fishermen,
researchers, engineers and fisheries managers
from all over the world.
As well as the $30,000
grand prize there will also be two $10,000
runner-up prizes and a special $7,500 East-African
Marine Eco-Regional Prize for entries specifically
addressing serious bycatch issues in coastal
East Africa.
This is the second year
WWF has offered a special regional prize
to encourage inventions that address issues
in areas of critical concern. Entries will
be judged on innovation, practicality, cost-effectiveness,
their ability to reduce bycatch of any species
and the overall contribution the invention
makes to conservation.
“Like any entrepreneur in the 21st century,
progressive fishermen around the world also
want to be more efficient, more innovative
and more sustainable.” said Miguel Jorge,
Director of the WWF International Marine
Programme. “Smart Gear is one of our most
powerful tools to help fishermen achieve
these aspirations.”
The Curtis and Edith
Munson Foundation, the SeaWorld & Busch
Gardens Conservation Fund and the Lemelson
Foundation supported this year’s competition.
The competition begins
January 27, 2009 and ends on 30 June 2009.
Employees, agents, current contractors,
and relatives of employees of WWF are ineligible.
Judges and relatives of judges are also
ineligible. The competition is void where
prohibited. Odds depend on number of entries
received. No purchase is necessary.
+ More
Snow deluge drives WWF
to seek aid of hunting estates
20 Jan 2009 - Vladivostock,
Russia - Heavy snow that fell just after
new year in the north of Russia’s Primorye
Territory, in the far south-east of the
country, has had a potentially devastating
effect on the local ecological system and
prompted WWF-Russia to seek the help of
local hunting estates.
Following the snow thousands
of people were stranded for several days
and the Russian government provided food
and rescued hunters caught in snow traps,
but for the wild animal population there
was no such provision.
Such unfavourable conditions
have a negative impact on wild ungulates
(hoofed animals) in particular, such as
deer and wild boars, and in some areas populations
can be reduced by up to 70 per cent. In
winter 2002 in south-west Primorye nearly
half the wild boars, roe and sika deers
died.
These kind of losses
can take several years to recover from and
have serious consequences for large predators
such as the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern
leopard. Primorye, nestling on the Sea of
Japan, is home to most of the world's Amur
tigers, otherwise known as Siberian tigers.
With this in mind, as
well as possible worsening of weather conditions,
WWF-Russia in partnership with the Wildlife
Conservation Society has started to allocate
funds to protect ungulates and provide them
with forage.
Ironically, the only
organisations that are really interested
and able to help animals in such circumstances
are hunting estates, who also suffer if
animal numbers dwindle. Therefore at the
start of this year the two local non-governmental
organizations formed a reserve fund to help
hunting estates in order to continue WWF’s
activities aimed at conserving and increasing
the number of ungulates in Primorye.
According to a previously
adopted resolution of Primorskii Province
each hunting estate is to develop a mobilization
plan to prevent the negative impact of heavy
weather conditions, including making roads
along which the animals can move and forage
can be transported. These particular targets
are the focus of the reserve fund that will
submit micro grants varying from $500 to
$1,500 over several years.
“The main task of the
reserve fund is to provide assistance in
saving animals by allocating funds promptly,”
said Sergei Aramilev, biodiversity conservation
coordinator at WWF-Russia’s Amur branch.
“Money will be given
only to those hunting estates which can
provide real help to the animals, i.e. which
have a detailed plan on how to prevent high
mortality of ungulates and possess tools
and equipment to implement it. It is wiser
to spend minimal funds on preventive measures
than invest much more money into restoration
of lost populations.”
