The Nor-Fishing Exhibition, taking place net month in Trondheim, traditionally holds an innovation award to showcase the latest in fishing technology, and this year is no exception.
The 2022 nominees include two partnerships of fishing and design companies, plus a tech company, and the winner of the Nor-Fishing Foundation Innovation Award for this year will be announced at the exhibition.
Fishing company Bluewild and Ulstein Design & Solutions are a contender for the work that has gone into developing a new approach to catch handling that will be fitted to Bluewild’s new trawler, which also features hybrid diesel-electric and diesel-mechanical propulsion systems, driving with two propellers and rudder nozzles to achieve a projected saving of 25% in fuel consumption per kilo of production.
The catch handling concept brings fish on board alive and holds them in tanks below the waterline for transfer in stages to the processing line.
Another contender is design company Marin Teknikk and fishing company Ervik Havfiske, who are responsible for the development of a new and innovative combined fishing and catching vessel for trawl and crab fishing with a central hauling pool/ moonpool. The vessel’s design will provide gentler catching of fish and crab, while improving the safety of the crew.
The design and inventive approach are expected to increase the efficiency of the fishery, in part because the vessel become less vulnerable to ice, sea, and weather conditions.
PingMe, developed by Ocean Space Acoustics (OASC), is also on the awards shortlist. This has been developed to prevent the loss of fishing gear placed in the sea, as well as make fishing more efficient. PingMe can detect, identify and locate equipment and place it in chart plotters.
It consists of a data platform, a transmitter/receiver service (on board) and a transponder with a unique ID. The transponder’s position is estimated and displayed on chart plotters, alongside the transponder’s ID and depth. PingMe also provides depth and temperature information at the equipment’s location. An app manages all detections of PingMe transponders, ensuring that fishing data can be retrieved after a trip – and that lost gear can be detected by other vessels with the PingMe system.
