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| Glenn Parsons received a World Wildlife Fund award for a
specially designed fishnet that reduces bycatch. Photo courtesy of Glenn Parsons |
Glenn Parsons, professor of biology, won $10,000 as a runner-up in the international SmartGear competition sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. The competition seeks out inventions that will reduce “bycatch” — non-targeted marine life that accidentally gets caught in commercial fishing nets.
Parsons designed his invention, the Nested Cylinder Bycatch Reduction Device, to reduce the bycatch of juvenile red snapper by the Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawl fishery. The device takes advantage of the snapper’s instinctive aversion to bright light, allowing it to swim out of the net to safety. In field-testing with Gulf shrimpers, the invention has already met rave reviews.
“The potential for this device to reduce bycatch and subsequent mortality of juvenile red snapper is significant,” said Parsons. “A cleaner catch and greater profit for the shrimper is a win-win situation for the marine environment and the fishing industry.”