Challenge 6: Reducing the Ecological Footprint of Fishing through Smarter Gear

THE PROBLEM
Modern fishing practices often result in the unintended catch—and subsequent dumping —of millions of tons of fish, mammals, sea turtles, birds, and other creatures, resulting in destructive impacts from industrial and artisanal fishing on marine species. Innovators and scientists have developed a variety of technologies and innovations that lower the amount of by-catch from fishing and reduce the damage caused by fishing gear, yet few have been implemented at scale or adopted by policy makers or the private sector.

THE CHALLENGE
Create scalable and sustainable novel technologies that reduce the impact of fishing gear while enhancing the yield of desired species. This challenge focuses on innovations for two different communities, and ways to bring the innovations to scale:

1. Reducing the impact of fishing gear and destructive fishing practices among artisanal communities without a diminishment in yield.

2. Reducing the impact of fishing gear and destructive fishing practices among industrial fishermen.

3. Improving the certification, adoption, and scaling of low impact fishing gear and fishing practices.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
The growing demand for seafood, a result of emerging middle classes and population growth, is putting tremendous pressure on fish stocks around the world. An estimated 80% of the world’s fisheries are considered either fully exploited or overexploited (FAO). The global fishing industry captured $91.2 billion in first-sale seafood value in 2006, comprised of 92 million tons from both inland and marine waters.

Destructive fishing practices constitute a malicious side effect of the increased global demand for seafood and the decline in global fisheries. Such practices can include the use of gear or methods that are indiscriminate as to their target species, physically damage the habitat, or are unsustainable in their application. Both artisanal and industrial fishers may use destructive fishing practices.

Indiscriminate fishing results in bycatch, removing fish and other marine life from the sea without the intent to do so. In some cases, the bycatch is itself a valuable product (e.g., halibut) that is cast overboard and thus harms the livelihoods of other fishers in a region. Frequently, the bycatch includes species that play a critical role in the ecosystem, for instance top-predators and primary food- stock fish that have little to no market value but underpin the health of more valuable fish populations. Destructive fishing practices can include the uses of poisons such as cyanide (which also capture fish for the aquarium trade), blast fishing which utilizes explosives, muroami (which uses pounding devices to crush coral and encircling nets), and ghost fishing (the use of large scale pelagic driftnets). These practices may irreversibly destroy habitats, or indiscriminately kill non-target species. Inadequate fishing practices include standard fishing practices, whose misapplication may be damaging to an ecosystem. For instance, bottom trawling can severely damage the seafloor and benthic habitats. Finally, solutions exist, but they need incentives for adoption, and pathways to scale.

EMERGING SOLUTIONS
Reducing Indiscriminate Fishing: Bycatch reduction technologies can take a variety of forms based on the type of fishery, intended catch, and the available machinery and tools onboard fishing vessels. Primarily, bycatch reduction technologies can be classified as (a) mechanical and physical tools or modifications to equipment, (b) more accurate testing and controls for catch content, or (c) behavior-based solutions to attract only desired species (FAO).

Gear Modifications: A past Smart Gear winner, the Yamazaki Double-Weight Branchline sinks long-line hooks beyond the range of seabirds and has dramatically reduced seabird bycatch (89% reduction) while maintaining little-to-no impact on fish catch rates. A runner-up in the 2014 competition, FRESWIND, designed an escape device system for flatfish from industrial fishing trawlers so that only target species of round fish are caught. Both are examples of simple mechanical adjustments to fishing equipment that can limit the capture of undesired fauna from turtles to seabirds and small or unwanted fish species.

Testing and Controls: The 2014 winner of Smart Gear provides an example of the types of tools and technologies that can be used to aid specific fisheries in determining the bycatch content of a potential catch. The project, Air-Powered Sampling for Purse Seine Fisheries used a small air cannon and net to catch and view the contents of a purse seine catch when it is far enough away from its ship such that releasing the net will not harm the fish inside. The ultimate outcome is reduced mortality of non-target species. Growing opportunities in sensing and detection capabilities could also be areas of exploration to help provide fishers with better tools to manage and control what they ultimately catch and bring onboard.

Behavior-Based Solutions: Scientists have begun to capitalize on increasing knowledge of fish and megafauna behavior to develop tools that limit unwanted bycatch for fishers. Super Poly Shark, a Smart Gear 2014 runner-up, created a simple device for long-line fisheries that contained a slow-release, biodegradable, chemical shark repellant that reduced shark by-catch by 71%. Similar to the Super Poly Shark, a project called Turtle Lights for Gillnets used simple LED lights on commonly used gill-nets in Baja California to reduce sea turtle bycatch and entanglement by 60% with no effect on fishery yields. Identifying novel methods and technologies that can limit the bycatch of non-target species based on their behavioral traits has become an expanding focus in bycatch reduction.

Addressing Destructive Fishing. Techniques used to intercept illegal deforestation, gun shot detection in cities, or poaching may also work to reduce destructive fishing. Triangulated underwater hydrophones have been used to identify potential blast fishing at great distances (up to 30 km) with great accuracy (within 30 m), even in noisy underwater environments. WWF Hong Kong has installed such systems in Hong Kong. Tank Watch — The Good Fish/Bad Fish Tool for Saltwater Aquariums — is a mobile app providing global consumers the ability to easily identify popular aquarium species and distinguish those potentially bred in captivity from those that were wild-caught using cyanide or other harmful means. NOAA Fisheries scientists and partners like Alaska Seafood Cooperative and Bering Sea flatfish fishing industry members collaborated to modify bottom-trawling gear so it reduces the damage to important bottom habitat. These changes to the gear reduced seafloor contact by a whopping 90% and successfully maintained flatfish catch rates, minimized negative effects on bottom habitats, and reduced crab mortality rates.