WWF's International Smart Gear Competition

The winners for the 2007 International Smart Gear Competition were announced at the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle. The Grand Prize of $30,000 went to a team of Rhode Island scientists, fishermen and a net maker, beating out 69 other entries from 22 countries. Their entry was based around a net, aptly named "The Eliminator" which captures haddock while reducing the accidental netting of other species.

Two other inventors won runner-up prizes of $10,000 each. These entries included a device called the Nested Cylinder Bycatch Reduction Device. It was developed by Glenn Parsons to reduce the catch of red snapper in the shrimp trawl fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. The other runner-up was Diego Gonzalez Zevallos, who developed a device to reduce the accidental bycatch of seabirds that can be struck by trawler cables.

For more detailed information on the winning ideas, please go to the Winners Section.