ropeless
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Sustainable Seas Technology Update: A Journey from 2022 to 2023
The past two years have been transformative but incredibly busy for Sustainable Seas Technology. Here’s a look back at our key milestones and the progress we’ve made in advancing ropeless fishing gear. 1. Advancements in Ropeless Fishing Gear Ropeless fishing gear has been at the forefront of our efforts. Traditional fishing methods, particularly those involving…
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Sustainable Seas Technology Update: A Journey from 2022 to 2023
The past two years have been transformative but incredibly busy for Sustainable Seas Technology. Here’s a look back at our key milestones and the progress we’ve made in advancing ropeless fishing gear. 1. Advancements in Ropeless Fishing Gear Ropeless fishing gear has been at the forefront of our efforts. Traditional fishing methods, particularly those involving…
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What I am Thankful for and What We Need to Do.
There are so many things I am grateful for this Thanksgiving. First and foremost, my family, friends, and dogs. They have supported me unconditionally for the last three years while I travel around two continents, meeting and working with inshore fishing communities. I wrote a blog post back in 2018 that I am acutely aware…
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The Need for Harmony
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…
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Ropeless IS Real- the report
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,…
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We have a chance to fix things.
“If I seem like a radical, it may be because I see things that others do not. I think if others had the opportunity to witness what I’ve seen in my lifetime…I would not seem like a radical at all. We have a chance to fix things.” -Her Deepness, Sylvia Earle. Mission Blue It has…
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Ropeless Consortium Informal Industry Working Group Ropeless Gear Testing Matrix 2019
Below please find a gear testing matrix that is offered open source to anyone wishing to perform ropeless gear testing. It is the result of the collaborative efforts of all of the gear designers and manufacturers listed on this blog. Through their willingness to work together to solve the problem of entanglements, they are proving…
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Why disentanglement teams are a crutch and not an adequate defense against entanglements.
Humpback whale entangled in fishing gear. © 2019 Captain Steve’s Rafting Adventures “Disentanglement is a crutch that’s been leant on for too long, it should not be viewed as a long-term solution to the entanglement crisis” – large whale disentanglement team member, Massachusetts. Quote from Ellie MacLennan’s 2017 paper “Disentangling a Whale of a Problem”…
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Fishing without Rope?
Past research has indicated an undeniable benefit to the use of innovative ropeless gear within pot and trap fisheries with a removal of end lines and buoy lines. (Baumgartner et al., 2018.; Werner et al., 2015; Lent, 2017; FAO, 2018) These innovative approaches to end line management allow for the lowered risk of bycatch and…