18 Oct Promising start for Sharkguard projet !

An innovative electric device designed to mitigate shark and ray bycatch in longline fisheries

Longline is one of the most selective fishing gears in the world. Nevertheless, the fishermen deal with the by-catches of sharks and rays. These non-target catches are a loss of revenue as they occupy hooks to fish commercially valuable species such as tuna and swordfish and cause damage to fishing gears.

Fishing professionals are increasingly taking steps to reduce the impact of their activities on the marine environment.

A new solution is emerging with the Sharkguard device

Developed by Fishtek Marine’s world-class team of engineers and marine ecologists, SharkGuard is an exciting new product that uses electric fields to deter sharks and other elasmobranchs from fishing hooks, while not interfering with target species. SharkGuard is a uniquely hard-wearing device, designed to be both affordable and practical for longline fishers.

The first trials resulted in a 90% reduction in shark catches.

In order to test Sharkguard in a commercial fishing environment, Fishtek Marine is associated with Isi Fish and Sathoan to manage at-sea trials during the summer of 2019 as part of the Sharkguard project funded by the European Eurostars Fund. The various observations and scientific data collected during these trials will be processed and analysed by the team of marine biologists from the Exeter University, England, and presented to fishermen during the winter.