New Perk! Save Our Oceans Glow-in-the-dark T-Shirt

1 in 5 fish caught is the wrong fish, and 1 in 5 fish caught is caught illegally. Hi-light these issues to the world with our glow in the dark Save Our Oceans t-shirt and you'll not only be spreading the word, but also helping address the problem!

The Problem

The fishing industry is facing a global problem. Currently about 1 in 5 fish caught is discarded, that is 27 million tonnes annually. This is not only bad for the fish, it is also bad for fishermen and the global economy as a whole. This can equate to about £500K being lost per large industrial vessel per year.

The Solution = PISCES

We are developing PISCES, which is a light emitting device that retrofits onto the fishing nets already used by fishermen. It helps fishermen catch the right fish by emitting lights which attract the right fish and repel the wrong ones.

When PISCES is attached to the trawler’s nets, bycatch can be reduced by up to 90%. It retrofits to almost any type of commercial fishing gear and most vessels would only require a set of 20 lights and a charger, which then helps enable them to comply with new fishing regulations.

PISCES not only saves fish, it will also help fishermen and protect one of our most loved food sources both now and in the future.

How it works

Different species of fish and crustaceans are affected by lights in different ways. Some are attracted and some are repelled, and it all depends on the type of light you use. PISCES will enable fishermen to easily specify the wavelength, intensity, polarization and flash-pattern of the light it emits, to better attract the size and species of fish they are licensed to catch. It is easy to fit, recharge and is designed specifically for the fishing environment.

Why we're crowdfunding

Dan's been working on SafetyNet for 8 years and we’ve made some really exciting progress and learned a lot during that time. We’ve worked hard because we see a real need for this technology, but we couldn’t have done it without our supporters. We’re now asking for one final push to help us bridge the gap between proof of concept and a device that can be used by many more people to accelerate the science and begin having a widespread positive impact.

With the £50K, we will be able to finalise the PISCES design and produce 100 of them to give to fishing crews and scientists to run new experiments that they weren't able to before.

Long term plans

With all the PISCES we will be able to produce after this crowdfunding campaign ends, we will be able to accelerate the understanding of how different lights affect different species of fish. This knowledge will help the industry understand how to apply lights to make their gears far more selective.

The reduction in bycatch that PISCES will allow, will make the fishing industry more sustainable and once we have helped the British seafood industry become sustainable, we aim to roll this out worldwide! We estimate PISCES will cost about £1,000 per commercial vessel, which fishermen can make back in just one day (calculating with average industry figures). Their revenues can also increase by 20% by catching the right fish.

From a scientific point of view, we are intent on furthering and accelerating the understanding of light's usefulness in fishing. With this in mind, we will publish all our findings on how light works in different fisheries, the opportunities this represents, and how best to address them. You can see our current research on our website. We want to share the knowledge gained from this project and our larger list of useful light types with as many communities as possible so that we can speed up the introduction of light as a selectivity tool into commercial fishing.

Timeline

Supporters, Collaborators, Features:

Team

+ a shoal of mentors and experts from across science, industry and business.

We have been working on PISCES since 2008. SafetyNet Technologies was founded by Dan Watson who was working on a Masters project in Product Design at the University of Glasgow. He became interested in sustainable fishing when he read an article about some Scottish Fishermen arrested in Norwegian waters for throwing fish back into the sea. While the regulations said it was illegal, they lacked the tools to avoid catching the fish in the first place, leaving them in a Catch-22 position.

Over the next few years, Dan worked with fishermen and scientists and created different prototypes to test various theories about light and fish behaviour. Eventually, those prototypes attracted seed funding from the likes of Young's Seafood, Dyson and Sir Richard Branson and led to the building of a small team to continue the work.

Rewards

The Science

Below are articles that outline and discuss some of the experiments that are informing the development of PISCES:

First ever paper Dan read about light and fish behaviour

Bob Hannah, Stephen Jones and Mark Lomeli's LED experiments to remove Euchalon bycatch from the Oregon shrimp fishery (pictured above and in the video)

John Wang's UV LED experiments to lower turtle bycatch in gillnets

Thanks

Max Blustin of New Planet Films for all his help putting our crowdfunding video together.

Niki Bañados for all the campaign graphics and aesthetic support.