
Ropeless Gear Testing Protocols Mark Baumgartner’s presentation at the 2019 Ropeless Consortium meeting in Portland, ME inspired me to focus my fieldwork efforts on three key points he made regarding ropeless gear testing. The road to hell is paved with good intentions “Ropeless gear needs to be safe for fishermen to use and safe for…

There are more than one million vertical lines off the North American coast of the Atlantic Ocean used by the lobster and crab fishing industry (Hayes et al., 2018). Pot/trap fishing gear, specifically the vertical lines attached to traps, poses an ongoing danger to both mariners and marine mammals, such as right whales. In fact,…

Below you will find links and videos highlighting the current manufacturers of several different styles of this innovative gear. Not all of the gear videos are the most current, as some of the designs are protected under non-disclosure agreements with the author or patents pending. As newer videos become available, this page will be updated.…