Hi-tech ropeless nets are trialled to stop whales being snared by fishing gear

TRIALS are under way to test hi-tech ropeless creels and nets to help solve the increasing problem of whales being snared by fishing gear in Scotland.

There has been a recent spate of whales snared by fishing equipment around the country, including one found last year with some of the “most severe wounds” ever recorded.

Now Kim Sawicki, an American scientist currently living and working in Scotland on a Fulbright scholarship, is seeking to advance the development of ropeless technology and help bring about its regular use in pot and trap fisheries around the world.

Her work is in collaboration with St Andrews University and the Marine Institute in the Republic of Ireland.

Her nine-month independent research project requires her to travel along the coasts of both countries to work in close contact with entanglement experts, pathologists, engineers, policy makers, and fishing communities.

Ropeless fishing gear, or ASBRS (Acoustic Subsea Buoy Retrieval Systems) are triggered acoustically when a fisher is nearby and ready to haul up.

This greatly reduces the time the line and/or buoy are in the water column – presenting a threat to whales or other marine animals.

“Just like any innovation or invention, there’s a period of testing, customisation, and adjustment that must be done,” said Ms Sawicki.

“This topic always brings to my mind the invention of the cellular phone and the super tiny and incredibly powerful ones we have now compared to the bulky suitcase models we had a few decades ago. It’s true we can’t see the ‘lines’ that attach our phones now, as with landlines, but that doesn’t limit their power or ability to give us the information we need.

“This period of adjustment is particularly important for a ropeless device because the approach and technique of every fisher is individual. Also, conditions in different geographic locations present different challenges for every fishing community, so these gears need to be adaptable – which they are.

This also means fishers need to have an attitude of collaboration when they agree to try fishing with these new methods.

“The ingenuity of fishers and their enthusiasm for trying something new is the most important part of designing something for their use. The creativity and inspiration that I get to experience from them, firsthand, is pretty hard to forget.

“Many of the fishers I have worked with have been excited and motivated to try something new that will help them reduce their amount of gear loss.

“I’ve also worked with people who have been directly affected by entanglements; either finding deceased animals in their gear or in the gear of others. It’s been clear to me that, while rare, these occurrences have a meaningful impact on them as humans. I find many of those fishers are even more motivated than their peers to try to help solve this problem and care less about their own gear loss than the life of the animal.”