PingMe Tags Stop Ghost Fishing

Oct-18-18 The PingMe electronic tags help stop ghost fishing by making it easier for fishermen to track and recover their nets.

Ghost fishing nets—abandoned or lost fishing nets—can float in the ocean for years, trapping marine life as they drift untended through the water.

To help stop this needless killing of animals, SINTET institute researcher Tone Berg created the PingMe, a simple tag that will attach to a fisherman’s net. When acoustic signals from the fishing boats contact the tag, the PingMe’s embedded electronics will reflect the signal in a predetermined pattern—a bit like a key code for a door. The reflected signal can be detected on the sonar screen to determine the net’s depth and location, as well as the net’s owner. And because the PingMe tags require very little power, a single small battery will keep the device functional for about five years.

Image: A sea turtle caught in a ghost net.

More Info about this Invention:

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