Boat International US Edition - June 2018

THE OCEAN AWARDS 2018

In 1999, Ben Kibel, a mechanical engineer, and his brother, Pete,

a fisheries specialist and biologist, founded Fishtek Marine to

develop gadgets that make fishing less harmful to marine life.

When fishing for swordfish, fishers tend to use chemical

lightsticks or glowsticks to attract the fish. They are highly

polluting if they are discarded in the ocean, which about 700

million are each year. Fishtek’s solution, ProGlow, is an

inexpensive, endurable, reusable alternative, weighing just over

half an ounce and depth-rated to 3,300ft. There are three models

with varying degrees of brightness, all fueled by two replaceable

AAA batteries, and the basic model should last two years.

The Kibels were also exercised by bycatch, the unintended

harming of turtles, sharks, cetaceans and especially seabirds.

Hookpod is a transparent pod fitted to the line that encapsulates

the point of the hook and barb, releasing it only when it sinks

between 33ft and 50ft below the surface of the ocean, where water

pressure activates the mechanism. At that depth the bait will no

longer be swooped on by albatrosses, petrels or shearwaters,

which cannot dive that deep. The pod is retrieved when the line

is hauled in and can be reused, so there’s no waste.

The Hookpod company was formed in 2013, and the device has

been successfully trialed in Brazil, Japan, Australia and New

Zealand, though Hookpod remains based in Devon, UK. As the

company’s slogan puts it: save money, save time, save seabirds.

The Innovation Award

BEN KIBEL

Inventor of ProGlow, an endurable, reusable alternative lightstick

Winner

MOMO KOCHEN

Pioneer of first Fairtrade

wild fish

Indonesia catches more tuna than any

othernationandisoneoftheleading

producers of wild-capture fish. But its six

million small-scale fishers have been

increasingly excluded from global markets

because they’re unable to prove they’re

complying with sustainability regulations,

which denies them access to Fairtrade

certification. Thanks to Masyarakat Dan

Perikanan Indonesia (MDPI) and its former

director of programs and research, Momo

Kochen, working in partnership with the

Dutch international fish importer Anova

Seafood, Indonesian yellowfin tuna caught

by small-scale handline fishermen in

North Maluku has become the world’s first

Fairtrade-certified wild fish. Since leaving

MDPI, Kochen has joined Future of Fish,

theUSnonprofitsystemschange

incubator, which strives “to create

business solutions to ocean challenges.”

Finalists

Masyarakat Dan Perikanan Indonesia

(MDPI) was founded in 2013 to promote

responsible and sustainable fishing in the area.

Thanks to its eforts, yellowfin tuna caught by

small-scale local fishermen is now Fairtrade-

certified, thus improving their income