We’ve detailed how gear tracking technology like the smart buoys from Blue Ocean Gear are designed keep fisheries fishing, but attendees at Pacific Marine Expo were able to go hand-ons on with their gear to learn more about these fisherman-centric solutions.

Designed to track and monitor valuable fishing gear and equipment when it’s in the ocean, Blue Ocean Gear buoys are small and light enough to be stored inside a Dungeness crab or lobster pot but durable enough to be bounced off the deck or whipped around at sea. Their new PlotterLink system means it can be integrated with any plotter. It’s changed the perspective of users because now it works with their existing onboard system and does not need internet. PME attendees were able to hear first-hand what these changes can and will mean.

"It's opening up new opportunities for fishers who need reliable information about their fishing gear precisely when and where they want to see it.," said Ryan Lind from Blue Ocean Gear. "Having one less piece of hardware is a big deal for fishermen, but PlotterLink is also opening up new opportunities with resellers who can see the integration possibilities. It’s helped to change the perspectives and expectations around what it means to better track and monitor valuable fishing gear and equipment when it’s in the ocean."

Benefits with the Plotterlink system include being able to provide direct communications with Blue Ocean Gear smart buoys, seeing the display directly on GPS chart plotters and having the potential to share data with other nearby vessels if the user requests, all with no Internet required.

Blue Ocean Gear Smart Buoys have been successfully deployed in some of the world’s largest and most demanding fixed gear fisheries, from Alaskan king crab to New Brunswick snow crab to pelagic longlining. To learn more about these innovations, visit their website or discover how change is coming in a way that is set to transform an entire industry.