‘Ropeless’ Lobster Traps Protect Right Whales
The Students: Caylee Butler ’23, Slater Campbell ’23, Trevor Parks ’23, Charles Snow ’23
The Advisor: Professor William Michalson, Robotics Engineering
The Problem:
Lobster fishing is critical to New England, but the ropes that connect traps to buoys pose a threat to the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. With less than 350 of these whales left, conservationists are calling upon solutions to keep the species from going extinct. Lobstermen using traditional traps have been limited to where or when they can fish, but current ropeless traps can cost thousands of dollars.
The Solution:
The team developed the Lobster Resurfacing Oceanic Locator, or Lobster R.O.L., which keeps a buoy and coiled rope submerged with a trap until a designated time set by a user on a smartphone app. At the specific time, the buoy and rope release, allowing lobstermen to find and collect their traps. The students interviewed lobstermen and industry workers to develop an easy-to-use prototype that costs about $200, and they successfully tested it in a swimming pool and in Narragansett Bay.
The Future:
The students are working with WPI to patent the invention and plan to continue working on the project even after graduation.
This is an awesome solution to a problem facing hard working lobsterman. It may also be a benefit to the boating community to avoid propeller and rudder entanglement.
I ran as many as 100 lobster pots in Long Island Sound as a hobby from 1970 until 2010. The deep water commercial fisherman would use little fusable links to attach the bouy and warp ( rope ) to the top of the pot. In about 5 days the salt water would dissolve the link and the pot bouy would come back to the surface. The was an effort to keep thieves out of the pot and also to keep kelp from wrapping the warp and dragging the pot miles away. Same principle except WPI has added modern day technology to the system. Way to go WPI
are these traps for sale yet?