In the News
Here’s the latest Saltwater Inc. news and events of note…
Saltwater Wins Grant To Establish Seaweed Processing & Distribution Hub.
Saltwater Inc., in partnership with ReGeneration North, has been recommended for a 2022 NOAA Fisheries Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant. Our project aims to address a key bottleneck inhibiting growth in Alaska’s seaweed industry – access to local processing. The primary objective of the project is to design and test a Proof of Concept (POC) seaweed processing and distribution “hub” in Homer, Alaska, that would serve multiple small farms in the Kachemak Bay region. The project aims to promote new business practices that will allow for increased seaweed production, (e.g. centralized processing and distribution), develop new local and regional markets for minimally processed seaweed, and support local production of new value-added seaweed products.
Date
May 2022Division
New InitiativesLocation
Kachemak Bay, Alaska
Menhaden Fishery Project Highlighted in National Fisherman Article
“Working with the Gulf of Mexico menhaden fleet, NOAA researchers are working on a methodology for learning about potential sea turtle interactions with purse seines, using a combination of at-sea observers, drones and electronic monitoring cameras on menhaden boats…” Saltwater provided both the EM systems and human observers for the Proof of Concept phase, both of which will be deployed again on more boats for broader testing in the coming year. Read the National Fisherman Article, with links to project reports.
Date
January, 2022Division
ProTechLocation
Gulf of Mexico
Saltwater Offers Fresh Eyes Aboard Swordfish Vessels
The Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research (PIER) has worked for multiple years to develop low-impact fishing methods for small boats fishing for swordfish on the West Coast. Recently they gave Saltwater the opportunity to design and test a “small boat” EM system as part of a project to compare EM and observer data for the fishery. Learn More
Date
Nov 2021Division
Electronic MonitoringLocation
West Coast
Testing EM in the Menhaden Fishery
Saltwater was recently awarded a ProTech contract by the NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation to deploy an EM system along with Protected Species Observers on a Gulf of Mexico menhaden purse seiner. This will be part of a Proof of Concept that will test various approaches to monitoring sea turtle interactions in this fishery. Depending on the results, additional vessels may be equipped with EM systems and deployed with observers under a pilot project in the coming year. This is one of 18 projects included under the Deepwater Horizon Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group Restoration Plan.
Date
Fall 2021Division
ProTechLocation
Gulf of Mexico
Saltwater Wins Ocean Stewardship Fund Grant
Saltwater was among 20 organizations recently selected to receive a grant from the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Ocean Stewardship Fund – a fund dedicated to enabling and supporting sustainable fishing around the world. This year, the Fund prioritized research into observer safety given the critical role that fishery observers play in providing data used to verify that fisheries are operating responsibly. The grant will support Saltwater working in collaboration with Chordata, LLC, to create a ‘one-touch’ observer communications platform. The tool will enable fishery observers to safely communicate with their home office, or alert emergency services to unsafe working conditions. See full press release.
Date
April 2021Division
Observer ServicesLocation
Global
EM4Fish featured Saltwater Inc. in this month’s Industry Focus and our work developing cost-effective EM systems and services for fisheries around the world. EM4Fish is a global community of people and companies working to advance fisheries management through electronic monitoring and reporting initiatives, improved data analysis, and technological advances. Read the article full here: Industry focus: Saltwater Inc.