Development and Preliminary Testing of a Low-Cost Timer Release for Ropeless Fishing

On a worldwide scale, entanglements in fishing gear exist as a chronic problem. In 2018, there were over one hundred confirmed entanglement cases documented in the U.S. This project focused on addressing challenges associated with the development of innovative, low-cost technology to reduce recreational and commercial fishing gear entanglements. The inherent challenge in the development of a viable ropeless fishing system is to minimize entanglement risk to whales without significantly impacting the viability of the fishery due to excessive cost, complexity and operational impacts. A number of systems have been developed to address this challenge, but most have focused on offshore fisheries where deeper water and multi-trap trawls can justify the investment in a more expensive and complex system. Here, we describe the development and preliminary testing of a low-cost, timer release system that is geared toward single trap fishing in inshore waters. The system works by securing the normal trap line and float to the top of the trap with a bungee and release loop that is secured to a cam on the timer. When the time setting is reached, the line and float are released. The time is set by turning the cam. There are no other complicated controls, deck units or rope packing systems. To date, the system has been tested successfully with lobster traps, black sea bass traps, and crab traps to depths of about 90 meters in a variety of ocean conditions and bottom types. Testing has shown the gear to be highly reliable with minimal impact to existing fishing operations. A tablet-based app was developed for gear tracking.