Fishing

The four International Smart Gear competitions held so far have produced some exciting designs

Learn more about the winning designs

2009 Winners

2007 Winners

2006 Winners

2005 Winners

2009 Winners
The 2009 winners were announced on September 17, 2009 at the World Fishing Exhibition in Vigo, Spain. This year the competition drew 71 entries from 27 countries, including Peru, Uruguay, French Guiana, and the Ukraine. A team of two Australian inventors were awarded the grand prize for a fishing gear innovation that could save thousands of seabirds from dying accidentally on longlines each year. Read more

2007 Winners
The 2007 winners were announced on 15th November 2007 at the Pacific Marine Expo, Seattle. With over 70 entries from 23 countries the judging panel choose four winners that feature cost-effective and innovative designs to reduce bycatch of marine life, that includes cod, flounder, skate, American plaice, lobster, dogfish, juvenile red snapper, harbor porpoise, black-browed albatross, and the kelp gull. The $30,000 Grand Prize Winner was awarded to a team of Rhode Island inventors for 'The Eliminator', designed to reduce the incidental catch of cod in the haddock bottom trawl fishery by taking advantage of the different fish behaviours as they enter a net. Read more 

2006 Winners
In 2006, the grand prize was awarded to a concept that used magnets to reduce the bycatch of sharks on longlines. Almost 20% of shark species are threatened with extinction, primarily as a result of bycatch on longlines. Many species of sharks are sensitive to, and can be repelled by magnetic fields. It was the use of a unique biology with a novel approach to addressing a global problem that resulted in the win for this idea. Read more

2005 Winners
In 2005, the grand prize was awarded to a simple mechanism to set baited hooks on the longline at depths below 100m, in order to minimize bycatch of marine turtles by Pacific island tuna longline fishers. The invention is based on the observation that turtles, as well as sharks and other non-target species, are often caught on hooks above 100m, while tuna are caught on hooks deeper than 100m. This idea is now being trialed by NOAA Fisheries in U.S. waters. Read more

WWF is now working with partners to test, refine and implement the winning ideas.