An Experimental Fishing Permit
Brown Box and California King Crab had been fished in California since 2018 under an Exploratory Fishing Permit (EFP) using traditional methods of fishing. In 2022 fishermen were informed that a reauthorization of the permit was unlikely to be approved due to the risk of entanglement that experimental fishing posed to protected marine mammals.
Members of the fishing community and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife requested assistance from Kim Sawicki of Sustainable Seas Technology (SST). Kim worked with them to propose a methodology that would utilize acoustically based ropeless fishing technologies. With support from the Marine Innovations Gear Alliance (MIGA), the Malk Nature Fund, the Orange County Community Foundation, the Skipper Family Trust, and the Lush Foundation, fishers received structured and standardized training to be able to participate in the program. In 2023, the project was granted a new EFP by the California Fish and Game Commission to allow full-scale, ropeless commercial fishing of these species of crab south of Point Conception, California, extending to the California/Mexico border.
Why Ropeless RISER was the First in the Water
The fishermen chasing the catch faced several challenges, including 400 to 800-foot fishing depths and currents that would make deploying, marking, locating, and recovering gear difficult. To meet these challenges, Greg Olsen, the owner of 4th Watch Seafood, reviewed all the equipment choices made available to him by the EFP during a mandatory training by SST in North Carolina in March 2023. After careful review, he selected the Ropeless RISER MTA equipment. Ropeless Systems’ CTO, Dr. Harold “Bud” Vincent, flew to California to perform on-water demonstrations of the gear.
The Fishing Begins
Greg set to work to customize his traps to remove the vertical lines and buoys, and to accommodate the on-demand components of the RISER MTA. He then outfitted his vessel, the 4th Watch, with the transceiver and chart plotter in the bridge, and the pole-mounted transducers and GPS compass on his gunnel.
After training, the EFP required (10) successful recoveries before fishing could begin. With those complete, the next task was to find the crab. After a number of disappointing trips, Greg began catching crab. To date, there have been over 100 successful recoveries and more than 3,000 pounds of crab brought to market.
Dr. Harold “Bud” Vincent, Chief Technology Officer of Ropeless Systems, Inc., adds, “The feedback provided from Greg’s experience fishing with our system will be incorporated into our products to continue to improve workflow, making deck operations faster, safer, and more reliable.”
