Funding Opportunities

Description

In 2025, four whale entanglements have been reported in Oregon Dungeness Crab gear, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in a Fleet Advisory published on December 5, 2025. These entanglements have been confirmed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and at least two appear to involve derelict gear—equipment that was likely lost prior to the entanglement and remained in the water after the close of the season. ODFW and fishermen are actively exploring solutions that reduce entanglement risk without requiring major changes to fishing practices.

Gear tracking technologies have demonstrated strong potential to prevent or significantly reduce gear loss by allowing fishermen to continuously monitor the location and movement of deployed gear. Blue Ocean Gear’s Smart Buoys are equipped with GPS and multiple sensors, providing real-time data accessible through existing onboard GPS chart plotters, mobile devices, or web browsers. This visibility enables precise retrieval of gear and ensures that all equipment is recovered at season’s end. Smart Buoys also issue targeted alerts when gear appears to have been dragged or broken free, identifying when and where retrieval is possible. Comprehensive tracking and recovery records at the end of each season help eliminate the presence of unattended vertical lines that can pose entanglement hazards to migrating whales.

Smart Buoys have been successfully deployed in several crab fisheries over the past five years. Building on that success, the University of Oregon in partnership with Blue Ocean Gear, is seeking funding to equip two commercial crab vessels with 10 Smart Buoys each for the 2025–2026 Dungeness Crab season. The project aims to assess the technology’s effectiveness in detecting and preventing derelict gear and potential whale entanglements in Oregon waters.

Description

In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the third largest snow crab fishery in the world faces a growing challenge: the co-occurrence of North Atlantic right whales (NARW) in dense fishing areas has increased the risk of whale entanglements, threatening both an endangered species and the livelihood of multi-generational fishing families. Harvesters in the region, long recognized for leading innovations in sustainable fisheries, are working with Blue Ocean Gear to test and refine Smart Buoys that could significantly reduce these risks.

Blue Ocean Gear’s Smart Buoys are equipped with GPS, accelerometer, and depth sensors designed in consultation with marine mammal scientists to detect entanglement events in real time. Combining these sensor data points through a cloud-based algorithm, Smart Buoys can identify anomalous gear movements that indicate a potential whale interaction or gear tampering, then automatically transmit alerts and location information to harvesters. This project will fund development and testing of automated entanglement and poaching detection algorithms, deploy additional Smart Buoys to active snow crab vessels, and simulate real-world entanglement events on the water. The goal is to integrate science-based detection into daily fishing operations, reduce gear loss, and enhance the protection of the critically endangered NARW—demonstrating how technology and fisheries can work together to safeguard ocean ecosystems while sustaining coastal communities.

Description

In Alaskan waters, the loss of crab pots can effect the marine ecosystem and the communities who rely on these fisheries. Studies show 31,000 pots per year are lost in the Bering Sea. These pots last up to 15 years in the environment.

Anecdotal reports from the Bering Sea Crabbers indicate that pot gear loss rates in Alaskan waters are in part due to gear conflict, which occurs when trawler vessel gear inadvertently interacts with crab pots fisheries. This causes potential damage to both the pots and the trawler vessel, often resulting in the parting of lines between the pots and surface buoys, meaning the pots are lost to the ocean floor where they continue to ghost fish.

Crab fishers in the Bering Sea have been eager to resolve this problem, but have not found a solution.  A means of resolving this issue is to utilize Smart Buoys to mark pot gear both on the owner’s chart plotter, but also on any trawl vessel within a certain range of that gear. This project will fund 120 Smart Buoy to crab harvesters in the snow crab and baridai crab fisheries in the Bering Sea to mark their pots. Blue Ocean Gear will be responsible for setting each crab harvester up with buoys and training. Blue Ocean Gear will work with the Bering Sea Crabbers to communicate with the trawl vessels.   Not only can this effort reduce the cost to harvesters who lose many pots each season to gear conflict, but it can also help protect the ocean ecosystem with high levels of biodiversity from the preventable causes of ghost fishing. In addition, it allows for seamless cooperation between fisheries, enabling them to operate in the same regions in a synchronous manner.

Description

Research suggests that over 300,000 whales and dolphins die annually due to entanglement in fishing gear, with additional unknown numbers also entangled in marine debris.  This can have devastating, long-term conservation impacts on those populations that are already threatened, in some cases critically.  In response to these growing concerns, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) launched a Global Whale Entanglement Response Network (GWERN) in 2011.  The immediate aim of the program was to build safe and effective entanglement response capability around the world.  The long-term goal is to prevent entanglements incidence globally.

The program is a partnership with the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) in Provincetown, Massachusetts, US considered one of the global leaders in entanglement response.  It is led by Technical Advisors who work for both CCS and the IWC, supported by an Expert Panel drawn from countries with long-standing and well-tested approaches to entanglement response.

With assistance from this global expert group, a Best Practice Guidelines and a two-day entanglement response training package has been development and is in need of further support.  The training workshop includes classroom study, with information on data collection, relevant regulations, and regional cetacean identification, followed by on the water, hands-on disentanglement exercises.  Since 2012, these training workshops have been delivered across five continents, reaching over 1,700 participants from more than 43 countries.

Funding to support this program includes equipment costs for disentanglement kits and trainer sponsorship consisting of flights, subsistence and a $205/day trainer fee.   Additionally, a smaller funding package to support disengagement kit supplies alone is available.

Description

The CanFISH Gear Lending program is a fisheries assistance program that provides ropeless systems free of charge to fishers in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, Canada, during temporary closures designed to protect North Atlantic Right Whales.  Through this service, CanFISH is protecting the Canadian crab fishing industry and the snow crab harvester’s way of life, while promoting safe fishing methods for the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW).

This funding opportunity will provide essential assistance to the CanFISH program by supporting operational costs, specifically for monitoring gear sets, training, servicing and transportation of gear, storage and overhead costs so more ropeless systems can get to fishermen in the 2024 snow crab season.

Description

This funding opportunity provided equipment to the NEFSC gear library to fully outfit 6 vessels for ropeless fishing.  This includes 2 ropeless systems (MOBI units), a deck box transducer, and gear tracking software for each vessel.

North Atlantic right whales (NARW) are the world’s most critically endangered large whale species, with less than 350 animals alive today. The threat to whales is the line of rope that extends from the trap on the seafloor to the buoy on the surface; whales are not able to detect this thin line, and can swim into it, becoming entangled. Ropeless, on-demand fishing technologies offer a solution by removing buoy lines from the water column except when gear is actively retrieved.

NOAA has a “gear library” program that accepts donations of ropeless gear for fishermen to pilot and test. It is critical for fishermen to participate in gear trials to develop systems that operate efficiently in challenging oceanographic conditions. Participating in pilot projects will also begin to get fishermen more comfortable with the gear, and give them the ability to provide feedback to customize the gear.