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WWF's International Smart Gear Competition - Press Room

In the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, 89% of hammerhead sharks and 80% of thresher and white sharks have disappeared in the last 18 years as a result of bycatch. Hammerhead shark, Fiji.

Saving sharks with magnets

Thousands of sharks could be saved from being killed on fishing lines thanks to the winning entry of this year's WWF-sponsored Smart Gear competition.

Posted on 11 May 2006 | 0 comments | Read more

Marine turtles are caught as bycatch by a variety of fisheries, and often drown in the nets or on the fishing lines. This leatherback turtle was caught in a tuna purse-seine net in the Atlantic Ocean.

International fishing gear competition lands over 80 entries

More than 80 inventors have entered the second International Smart Gear Competition in the hope of winning the US$25,000 grand prize for the best new fishing gear that will allow fishermen to target their intended catch while leaving other marine life untouched.

Posted on 24 March 2006 | 0 comments | Read more

Circle hooks (right) have proven to be more turtle-friendly than traditional "J" hooks.

WWF Smart Gear competition hooks multi-national experts to choose winner

WWF has announced the judging panel for this year’s WWF International Smart Gear Competition. The contest was created by WWF to encourage the design of innovative fishing gear to reduce marine bycatch – the incidental catch and related deaths of marine mammals, birds, sea turtles and non-target fish species.

Posted on 17 February 2006 | 0 comments | Read more

Bycatch of manta ray (<i>Manta birostris</i>) and leatherback turtle (<i>Dermochelis coriacea</i>). French Tuna purse-seine fishery in the Atlantic ocean. Sept. 1998

WWF launches fishing gear competition to reduce marine bycatch

WWF has launched the second WWF Interantinoal Smart Gear competition, seeking innovative fishing gear that reduces marine bycatch — the accidental catch and related deaths of marine mammals, birds, sea turtles and non-target fish species in fishing gear such as nets and longlines.

Posted on 29 November 2005 | 0 comments | Read more

Steve Beverly, fisheries development officer, Secretariat for the Pacific Community, New Caledonia, won the Grand Prize for his entry addressing the problem of sea turtle bycatch.

Winners of international competition to reduce marine bycatch announced

WWF's International Smart Gear Competition announced three new winning solutions to prevent the accidental maiming and killing of marine mammals, juvenile fish, and sea turtles that become ensnared by fishing nets and longlines.

Posted on 21 April 2005 | 0 comments | Read more

A loggerhead turtle (<i>Caretta caretta</i>) swimming in the open sea.

WWF calls for marine turtle bycatch reduction

WWF is calling on participants attending an international sea turtle forum to reverse the dramatic decline of loggerhead and leatherback turtles through bycatch reduction.

Posted on 30 November 2004 | 0 comments | Read more