Public Funding for Safetynet Technologies Limited

Lost fishing gear is a tremendous environmental and economic problem, leading to a proliferation of ocean plastic and 'ghost-gears' that trap marine fauna. Project GearSearch creates an innovative technology to resolve this longstanding ecological and economic problem, that helps fishermen easily locate their lost gears before they become pollution. Industrial fishing gear accounts for roughly 10% of marine plastic debris (WWF 2020). Whilst some gear is dumped, most is lost through no fault of the fishermen, who must bear the economic burden of replacing it and the lost fishing opportunities incurred. Richardson et al (2019) estimate that 8.6% of all traps are lost annually, costing over 4000 UK fishermen £16m total per year. Static fishing gears such as traps and nets are set on the seabed and marked with floats. If these floating lines are damaged or cut, the gear becomes lost and external factors such as weather or the passing vessels that cause the loss often move the gear in the process, thus compounding the problem. Presently, there is no solution to easily assist fishermen to find their lost fishing gear. This project will develop and test in conjunction with commercial fishermen an acoustic tag solution called MyGearTag. It will have 3 components: the tag, a deck hub and a smartphone App. The tag design will be robust and ergonomic, making it easy to retrofit on all types of fishing gear and, most importantly, not interfere with the fishing operation. Operationally MyGearTag will be passive and not transmit until it receives a unique signal from the deck hub, avoiding sound pollution. The deck hub will be fitted on the vessel and deployed as required. A smartphone App will be developed to allocate the tags to specific gears and provide the interface for communicating with the tags and pinpointing their location. In-depth product design sessions will be carried out with commercial fishermen to fully scope the requirement of the MyGearTag product and level of usability required. The design team will develop and manufacture pilot test sets and trials will be carried out on commercial mobile and static gears in the UK, including potters, netters and trawlers. Feedback from these trials will inform the final design and specification of the product and MyGearTag will be made available for market in 2023.

**Background** The need for precision fishing in becoming more acute, driven by environmental, commercial, regulatory and ethical factors. The fishing industry has invested heavily in research and development of fishing gear technology to address the issues that they face around bycatch, however the return is diminishing as we approach the limits of gear modification to address bycatch issues. Alternative approaches are needed and this project aims to facilitate precision fishing based on the parameters that surround the vessel in real time time and provide insight on the likely catch composition based on these. **The Idea** SNTech will work with technology partners and customers to develop groundbreaking sensor technology that can be affixed to the fishing gear alongside our Pisces bycatch reduction solution. The data will be collected in real time via an acoustic wireless data connection linking the sensors and the vessel. The data will then be presented to the fisherman in an intuitive and informative manner and also uploaded into the cloud where it can be accessed by permissioned 3rd parties. The solution will contain the following; * a set of Pisces lights * a rechargeable wireless sensor capable of measuring water depth / temperature / salinity / pH / Turbidity / dissolved oxygen / light intensity / 3 axis movement and transmitting the data back to the vessel acoustically in real time. * a gear recovery beacon which can be activated via an acoustic ping from the vessel in the event that the gear is lost and thus recovered. * an onboard transponder to receive the acoustic data from the sensors and supporting App to take the raw data and turn it into insightful information. * the project will look to integrate with onboard systems that collect and transmit data such as VMS and elog in order to add extra layers to data set or if not provide tools to gather and transmit this data to the cloud * A web App linked to the database providing UI for subscribers * API's for data sets accessible to subscribers **Benefits** The direct benefits of this project will see fishermen equipped with easy to use technology that will increase their understanding of their fishing environment and allow them to use our precision fishing tools to only catch the fish they need in an efficient and effective manner. Secondary benefits will come from sharing the gathered data with other stakeholders to improve science, management and the market.

no public description

Fishing crews the world over currently accidentally catch (roughly 1 in 5) non-target species (bycatch) during both industrial and artisanal fishing operations. Non-target species means juvenile, endangered or low-market-value fish species, megafauna (eg, turtles, rays and sharks), and birds. Unintended capture negatively impacts stock levels and biodiversity, disrupting marine ecosystems and food chains. Communities reliant on ocean protein to eat and sell are also disrupted, including the wives of fishermen, key to sales processes. Regulations to counter unsustainable fishing practices can also severely limit artisanal fishers' access to ocean protein, particularly if they cannot move to areas of greater fish abundance. This project aims to help Peruvian artisanal and subsistence fishers to fish more selectively, enabling better marine resource management. Outcomes could also influence the industrial fishing sector and other developing nations. This study will identify routes to adoption of light based bycatch reduction technologies in Peru, and the size of the market for them. Using a human centred design approach to engage with the fishers and wider stakeholders to understand their motivations and concerns with adopting such technologies. The outcomes will be a feasibility report and, if viable, a roadmap for a demonstrator project. Our technology can enable the artisanal fishing fleet to fish in a way that meets regulations and avoids non-target catch, while increasing yields of target species. Benefits of this approach include: Up to 25% revenue increase Improved working conditions due to less fish sorting and less time at sea Less operational costs (fuel, damaged gear) Fishing crews pass increased economic prosperity onto dependent local communities. Environmental benefits are realised through reduced bycatch of non-target species, protecting biodiversity. Sustainably harvesting fish stocks offers huge social benefit, offering food security for the 20% of the growing global population reliant on fish as a primary protein source. This project focuses on SDG14, Life Below Water - maintaining a sustainable and biodiverse oceanic habitat. Target 1 to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, including dead marine species; Target 2 sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems Target 4 to end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, by preventing the capture of non target species, allowing marine ecosystem replenishment. Target A transfer of our technology to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries. Target B providing access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources through sustainable harvesting.

Service design project to create the best possible service through which to provide commercial fishing crews with technology to dramatically increase their gear selectivity.

Intellectual property protection for SafetyNet Technologies mechanical solutions.