Using Smart Buoys to turn fishing gear into an ocean data platform
Ocean data is critical for many different applications, including shipping, oil and gas, offshore wind and wave energy, and scientific research, but it can be challenging to acquire in a safe and reliable manner due to the volatility of marine conditions. One means gaining momentum is to use commercial fishing gear, which is already being deployed in some of the most economically important and active coastal zones to other ocean industries, to collect and transmit metocean data. Blue Ocean Gear’s Smart Buoy devices are designed to do exactly that, with over 1,000 buoys deployed in fisheries on both coasts of North America over the past two years. As a primary application, the buoys are tracking devices to reduce lost fishing gear and improve efficiency for operations, so the fishers themselves gain from using these systems on their gear, while also providing additional information as to conditions on the water. Like ‘Find my iPhone’ for nautical equipment, this saves time, recovery costs, and data loss caused by inadequate and hard-to-upgrade equipment at sea. As this ocean data network grows, the ability to use fishing gear to generate mission-critical data becomes more advantageous from an economic and practical standpoint.