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WWF's International Smart Gear Competition - 2007 Winners

Grand Prize Winner ($30,000) - The Eliminator

/ ©: Photo courtesy of University of Rhode Island
Jim O’Grady and crew on board the F/V Iron horse
© Photo courtesy of University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island, United States
Designed by New England fishermen in collaboration with fisheries extension specialists and a trawl manufacturer, the Eliminator reduces the bycatch of cod in the haddock bottom trawl fishery. The winning gear takes advantage of the fish behaviour differences, separating and releasing bycatch at the mouth of the net. Read more>>

Runner-Up Winner ($10,000) - The Traffic Cone

/ ©: Photo courtesy of Diego Gonzalez Zevallos
Diego Gonzalez Zevallos with the Traffic Cone device
© Photo courtesy of Diego Gonzalez Zevallos
Diego Gonzalez Zevallos, Argentina
Attached to a fishing trawler this winning design, the Traffic Cone, warns scavenging seabirds away from perilous contact with warp cables by making them more visible. Diego Gonzalez Zevallos developed this cost-effective and practical device in response to the increasing number of seabird mortalities occurring in high seas trawl fisheries on the Argentine Continental Shelf. Read more>>

Runner-Up Winner ($10,000) - The Nested Cylinder

/ ©: Matt Gaylord
Dr. Glenn R. Parsons working on the Nested Cylinder Bycatch Reduction Device.
© Matt Gaylord
Dr. Glenn Parsons, University of Mississippi
Developed by Dr Glenn R Parsons of the University of Mississippi, the Nested Cylinder Bycatch Reduction Device was designed to reduce the bycatch of juvenile red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Trawl Fishery. Made from two sleeves - a smaller cylinder nested inside a larger outer cylinder on the downstream end - the winning fishing gear takes advantage of the dark-adapted natural fish instincts. Read more>>

Special UK Prize Winner ($5,000) - The Passive Porpoise Deterrent

/ ©: Ari S. Friedlaender
Harbor Porpoise.
© Ari S. Friedlaender
Aquatec Group Ltd., UK
Developed by Aquatech Group Ltd. the passive porpoise deterrent is an advance in current technology. Drawing on the echolocation system of the harbor porpoise the design reduces bycatch by alerting marine mammals to the presence of fishing nets using resonant acoustic reflector. Read more>>

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Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence.