Smart Gear Competition
One method to reduce bycatch is to invest in improved technology, such as more selective, “smart” fishing gear that reduces the chance of bycatch. To promote the development of such gear, WWF created the International Smart Gear Competition.
WWF's International Smart Gear Competition, first held in 2005, brings together the fishing industry, research institutes, universities, and government, to inspire and reward practical, innovative fishing gear designs that reduce bycatch - the accidental catch and related deaths of sea turtles, birds, marine mammals, cetaceans and non-target fish species in fishing gear such as longlines and nets.
A team of Australian inventors, consisting of Phil Ashworth, general manager of Australia-based Amerro Engineering and Dr. Graham Robertson, a principal research scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division, have won the $30,000 grand prize in the 2009 International WWF Smart Gear Competition for their invention - the underwater baited hook - which allows longline vessels to set baited hooks underwater out of reach of seabirds which minimizes or eliminates accidental mortality when they attempt to seize bait attached to longline hooks.
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.
Thanks to all the great inventors for submitting their innovative ideas for reducing bycatch.
