2009 Winners
Grand Prize Winner ($30,000) - The Underwater Baited Hook
Phil Ashworth and Dr. Graham Robertson, Australia
The name "underwater baited hook" says it all. This stern-mounted, hydraulically driven device delivers baited hooks underwater, below vessel propeller turbulence, in a method much different from setting baits on the water’s surface. The design could substantially reduce seabird bycatch. And, because it minimizes the drag caused by devices that remain underwater while setting, it is considered the most fuel-efficient method of delivering baited hooks at required underwater depths. Read more
The underwater baited hook team at Amerro (l to r): Peter Ashworth, Phillip Ashworth and Ian Carlyle.
Runner-Up Winner ($10,000) - The CP2 Batwing Otter Board
Dr. David Sterling, Australia
The 2009 International Smart Gear Competition awarded Dr. David Sterling a runner-up prize of $10,000 for developing the CP2 Batwing otter board, a device that reduces trawling’s impact on the seabed. Read more
Dr. David Sterling
Runner-Up Winner ($10,000) - The HOVERCRAN
Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Belgium
The 2009 International Smart Gear Competition awarded the other runner-up prize to a team at the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO) in Belgium. The team took the $10,000 prize for their innovation of the HOVERCRAN, a fishing device that improves commercial catch quality and lessens seabed damage in the brown shrimp fishery. Read more
An almost-pure brown shrimp catch made with the HOVERCRAN.
Special East Africa Prize Winner: The Selector
Winners Awarded $7,500 for Device to Reduce Bycatch in Africa’s Largest Lake
The Selector, a device that reduces the bycatch of goldfish in the Lake Victoria pellegrin fishery, earned a Special East Africa Prize in the International Smart Gear Competition. Read more
The Selector Device as seen from the front showing Gold fish escape vent.