Posted on January, 24 2005

Washington, D.C. – WWF-US, together with partner organizations, is sponsoring an international fishing gear competition to reduce marine bycatch. 

The International Smart Gear Competition is aimed at encouraging fishermen, scientists, and acadmemics to come up with innovative fishing gear to reverse the decline of vulnerable marine species — including sea turtles, dolphins, and whales — accidentally caught in nets and other fishing devices.
 
“We have entries from 16 countries, representing people from a wide range of backgrounds," said Karen Baragona, deputy director of the WWF-US Species Conservation Program.

"Many of the entries are from fishermen, which isn't surprising considering they have produced so many of the bycatch solutions that are already out there.”

Some of the entries include: glow-in-the-dark ropes that may protect whales in Atlantic waters; rotating drums made in Mississippi that presumes the natural tendency of fish to follow a moving pattern; seabird-proof, "hidden" bait for long-line fishing vessels designed by Dutch inventors; and a simple 3-inch bamboo ring designed to keep dugongs from entering Philippine fishing nets
 
“This kind of participation, from every continent, was exactly what we were looking for when we launched the competition," Baragona said.

"Accidental bycatch is a global problem and it will take a multi-national collaboration to defeat it.” 

The grand prize winner — to be chosen from a panel of 15 international judges — will receive an award of US$25,000.  Two runners-up will be selected and awarded prizes of US$5,000 each. Winners will be announced March 9th in Washington, DC. 

The winning entry will receive assistance from WWF to make the idea commercially available. 

Notes:
• The International Smart Gear Competition was created by WWF-US in May 2004, to bring together partners representing fisheries, policy, and science to find solutions for the problem of accidental catch of non-target species. Participants responded by submitting ideas for ways to reduce the unnecessary deaths of whales, dolphins, porpoises, dugongs, sea lions, seals, manatees, sea turtles, sea birds, and non-target fish species. 
 
• The competition's judging panel includes representatives from:

*American Fisheries Society  
*Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Resources, Memorial University of Newfoundland 
*Fisheries Conservation Foundation 
*Hubb-Sea World Research Institute 
*Institute of Marine Research in Norway 
*Inter-America Tropical Tuna Commission 
*Marine Wildlife Bycatch Consortium (comprised of the New England Aquarium, Duke University, the University of New Hampshire and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association)
*National Fisheries Institute 
*New Zealand-based Sealord Group, Ltd.  
*SeaNet (an extension service for fishermen in Australia)  
*Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center 
*U.K. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science 
*U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization   
*U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
*University of Rio Grande in Brazil 
*World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US) 
 
For further information:
Michael Ross, Director of Strategic Communications
WWF-US
Tel: +1 202 778 9565
E-Mail: michael.ross@wwfus.org