Exchange Profiles

SMELTS is dedicated to developing technologies that reduce harmful interactions between humans and marine mammals. We have created a patent pending Ropeless fishing system that uses compressed air with variable buoyancy lift bags to bring gear to the surface which completely eliminates the vertical line and bouy. The system is complemented by an acoustic modem used to track gear location and trigger the lift bag inflation. This is a negatively buoyant fishing retrieval system that has the ability to lift heavy loads from the seafloor to the surface with ease. The system is easily scalable to meet the diverse requirements of many different fisheries. In addition, when at the surface it transmits active location information via satellite to the fishing vessel. This technology has the potential of eliminating entanglement risks to marine mammals, reducing gear conflicts, and minimizing ghost fishing and marine debris.

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is working toward a world where all fisheries and aquaculture are improving, and everyone has access to responsibly sourced and produced seafood. We work across the entire seafood value chain, from the world’s largest retailers to artisanal fishers, to find practical solutions to difficult problems. In everything we do, we focus on impact, to help ensure abundant fisheries, healthy marine and coastal ecosystems, and resilient fishing communities. Through our strong relationships with the seafood industry and the catch sector, we leverage the power of retailers, seafood buyers, and their supply chains to drive change in fisheries and aquaculture regions around the world. We bring industry together with NGOs, governments, fishers, and scientists, and then share our tools and expertise to help them find creative, collaborative solutions that work for everyone.

Building on this collaborative, solutions-oriented approach, SFP established the Bycatch Solutions Hub in 2023. The Hub brings together the seafood industry, conservation organizations, gear manufacturers, government agencies, researchers, and funders in a collaborative effort to address one of the seafood sector’s most pressing sustainability challenges, the unintended bycatch of endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) marine species in wild-capture fisheries.

By creating a centralized and accessible online platform, the Hub helps industry stakeholders more easily identify, understand, and implement proven bycatch mitigation solutions in real-world fisheries operations. Additionally, the Hub helps identify funding needs and opportunities, build partnerships around priority projects, and direct financial resources toward practical, scalable solutions. By connecting seafood companies and other funders, conservation organizations, and innovators the Hub provides opportunities to advance the development, implementation, and scaling of effective bycatch solutions.

Visit us at www.sustainablefish.org, https://bycatchsolutions.org/homepage-2/ and follow us onLinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

Trident Seafoods is North America's largest vertically integrated seafood harvesting and processing company. Trident is a privately held, 100% USA-owned company with an international operating presence in 10 countries and customers across nearly 60 global markets. Trident employs approximately 7,700 people worldwide each year and partners with over 2,700 independent fishermen and crewmembers in Alaska alone. 

Trident’s bond with the ocean runs deep. Fishing is what we have always done, and if we continue to do so sustainably, it’s what we will always do. We’re committed to operating in an environmentally, socially and economically responsible manner and to conducting business with a high standard of ethics. Our approach to sustainability holds us accountable to our commitments and focuses on three core priority areas: the environment, our people and communities, and our promise to operate a responsible business. 

Follow Trident Seafoods on the web at www.tridentseafoods.com or on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube