The problem: Crab and lobster fishermen in the Bay of Fundy use rope to tie their traps to a buoy that shows where the traps are, but those ropes can entangle the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Whenever a whale is spotted nearby, fishermen have to pull up their traps and quit working until it’s all clear.
The solution: Fishermen are testing rope-free “on-demand” traps. One version only releases the buoy and coiled rope when it receives a signal, while another fills a balloon to lift the trap to the top of the water. Both versions are triggered with sounds — similar to what is used for sonar — since internet connections aren’t reliable on the open sea and a trap at the bottom of the ocean is a tiny bit outside of Bluetooth range.
What’s next: These kinds of traps have been tested elsewhere, but the Bay of Fundy has some of the highest tides and strongest currents in any regularly fished waters. Data from this initial test will be used to customize the traps to function in those harsh conditions.