Application testing of onboard respooling and rope handling for use in ropeless fishing

The proposed research will examine potential alternatives for respooling buoy line from trap fishing applications into caged underwater rope enclosures. Previous research conducted for Ashored Innovations found that cage rope enclosures demonstrated the most favorable results for ropeless fishing given the environmental conditions in Atlantic Canadian trap fisheries. However, one major concern highlighted from fishers is the time required to reload the system with buoy line in order to redeploy. The additional effort to respool the caged design would greatly add to the hours per day for trap fishers. Experiments will first consider the behavior of standard fishing ropes when coupled with traditional hydraulic hauler setups. This information will help guide the design of an automated tool that assists the fisher in respooling the cage.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jason Rhinelander

Student:

Ross Arsenault;Maxwell Poole

Partner:

Ashored Innovations

Discipline:

Engineering - other

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Saint Mary's University