Disruptive concept and technology for sustainable fisheries

Despite the social and economic importance of fisheries, attempts to exploit marine resources in a sustainable manner have been largely unsuccessful, leading to widespread concerns about fishing impacts, such as: seabed destruction, bycatch & by-mortality, ghost fishing, plastic pollution, fuel consumption, etc. Therefore, there is a clear need and business opportunity (€2.1Bn market value, CAGR 4,5%) for more sustainable fishing methods that are able to keep in mind that fishing is an economic activity that can only exist if it is profitable. With the SUNFISH project, Innomar aims to pursue this huge market opportunity by bringing to market a ground-breaking, sustainable, cost-effective and passive fishing concept – InnoCatch – that sustains its responsible and rational fish capture on technical, scientific, social and economic information, while keeping in mind maximum profit. InnoCatch uses a proprietary, collapsible and stackable trap-technology that will use sensors to monitor the fish in the trap and collect other data such as geolocation, depth, salinity, and temperature. InnoCatch uses, preferentially, a light attractant to passively and selectively attract fish without bait. Due to its design and passive nature, InnoCatch will reduce in 75% the bycatch levels, and virtually eliminating by-mortality, seabed destruction and ghost fishing. Moreover, the fish can swim relaxed in the traps until the catch is collected, resulting in a product with high quality and value but also in fish wellbeing. The data collected by the sensors will allow fishermen to access to real-time information in the trap and help him to maximise their ecological and fishing efficiency, by avoiding “hit and miss” or non-productive trips. With both the grant and equity contributions from EIC Accelerator, SUNFISH project will further differentiate Innomar among competitors positioning Innomar as leading supplier (through sales and leasing model) of sustainable fishing gear market.