“With small-scale fisheries restoration in mind, Rare challenged teams to develop a measuring board or other system to automatically measure and record fish length.”
via Rare
It isn’t often that the worlds of competitive computer hacking and the improvement of our fisheries collide, but that is precisely what occurred at this year’s Global Fishackathon. The second annual event, held by the U.S. State Department, called upon Rare’s “dedicated fisheries nerds” to group together from cities across the globe to create mobile-friendly technology to overcome some of the fisheries larger challenges.
Four of Rare’s teams developed measurement systems with working prototypes. One Contestant, Fish-o-Tron, uses nothing more than your smartphone and a piece of paper to generate the length and the maturity of the fish, as well as whether it can be kept in accordance with your local fishing regulations. This application could be the next must-have tool for recreational anglers in order to measure their fish on the fly while educating local fisheries departments towards a better understanding of local waters. Read on about all four finalists here.
The future of small fisheries across the globe will continue to need tools like those created at this year’s Fishackathon. Orvis continues to recognize the importance of supporting the creation of these tools and has pledged to match any donation towards saving the fisheries on the western hemisphere’s largest barrier reef with Rare’s Fish Forever – Belize.