Detection of derelict fishing gear
AssigneeBlue Ocean Gear LLC
InventorKortney Noell Opshaug
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The location of lost or entangled fishing gear, known as derelict gear, is detected. The motion or change of position of a buoy attached to fishing gear is determined via sensors mounted on the buoy and compared to typical buoy motion. If the buoy has moved beyond a threshold value from its original location, an alert is sent to the fisherman. The available sensor data will be used to determine the likelihood of loss or entanglement. This alert facilitates recovery of lost or entangled gear by identifying where immediate retrieval efforts should be focused. The number of traps lost to the ocean that otherwise would continue to trap or entangle marine life may be reduced.
Claims25
A system for detecting lost or entangled fishing gear, the system comprising:
- a buoy for attaching to fishing gear;
- a sensor of the buoy;
- a detector configured to differentiate, based on output of the sensor of the buoy, between the buoy becoming lost by ocean conditions or the buoy becoming entangled with marine life;
- and
- a transmitter configured to send the output or to send an alert indicating that the buoy has become lost or entangled based on the differentiation.
A system for detecting lost or entangled fishing gear, the system comprising:
- a receiver configured to receive sensor data or an alert from a buoy configured to attach to and originally attached to fishing gear, the sensor data or the alert based on depth information of the buoy and velocity of far the buoy, the depth information comprising depth data over time;
- a processor configured to determine that the buoy is lost or entangled from a combination of the depth data over time and the velocity;
- and
- a display configured to display a warning based on the determination of the buoy being lost or entangled.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.