Posted on 15 September
2009
Their invention
– the underwater baited hook – allows longline
vessels to set baited hooks underwater out
of reach of seabirds. Designed for use on
coastal tuna and swordfish vessels worldwide,
the invention minimizes or eliminates accidental
mortality of seabirds including albatrosses,
petrels and shearwaters, which are sometimes
killed in the fishing gear when they attempt
to seize bait attached to longline hooks.
The grand prize winning
team consists of Phil Ashworth, general
manager of Australia-based Amerro Engineering
and Dr. Graham Robertson, a principal research
scientist with the Australian Antarctic
Division. WWF and its partners made the
awards announcement today at the World Fishing
Exhibition in Vigo, Spain.
Every year, unselective
fishing catches non-target animals as ‘bycatch’
– an issue that causes the death of hundreds
of thousands of marine animals, including
seabirds. A recently published study defines
bycatch as unmanaged or unused catch and
on this basis it is estimated that bycatch
accounts for at least 40% of what is taken
from our oceans each year.
”With bycatch accounting
for at least 40% of what is taken from our
oceans each year, competitions like Smart
Gear are critical opportunities to stimulate
and showcase new technologies to reduce
this threat,” said Dr. Robin Davies, Interim
Leader of WWF’s Bycatch Initiative. “It
is inspiring to see how many innovative
ideas were submitted to the Smart Gear Competition
because it reflects a dedicated and extremely
diverse group of people who are committed
to finding solutions to bycatch.”
Two other inventions
to help reduce bycatch won runner-up prizes
of $10,000 for their inventors. A team from
Belgian’s Institute for Agricultural and
Fisheries Research (ILVO) won for their
invention named Hovercran, which substantially
reduces bycatch in shrimp trawls. The other
runner-up is David Sterling, of Australia’s
Sterling Trawl Gear Services, who developed
a device called the Batwing Board, an alternative
to the standard trawl door used by most
trawl operators, which both reduces impact
to the sea bottom by approximately 90 percent
and reduces fuel consumption.
This year’s competition
also features a special East African Marine
prize of $7,500 which has been awarded to
Samwel B. Bikkens of Kenya’s Moi University
for his device known as “The Selector.”
The invention makes
use of fish responses to light and water
movement to address a bycatch problem in
Lake Victoria, the largest lake in East
Africa and an important fishery in the region.
This is the second year that WWF has offered
a special regional prize to encourage inventions
that address issues in areas of critical
concern.
“The creative inventions
designed by the winners of the Smart Gear
Competition promise practical, effective,
everyday solutions to the problem of bycatch
- a serious issue which threatens the health
of our oceans,” say Michael Osmond, WWF’s
senior program officer for fisheries, who
directs the competition.
The Curtis and Edith
Munson Foundation, The Marisla Foundation,
the Sea World & Busch Gardens Conservation
Fund, the Lemelson Foundation, and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
are supporting this year’s Smart Gear Competition.
For more information on the International
Smart Gear competition go to: www.smartgear.org.
