In 2019, Hawaiian Fresh Seafood was awarded a National Marine Fisheries Service Bycatch Reduction and Engineering Program grant to develop and test a line cutter prototype for use in the Hawaii Longline Fishery and capable of releasing incidentally caught sea turtles, sharks, and other large marine animals with minimal trailing gear and reduced struggle.
Over the course of two years, Hawaiian Fresh Seafood's Caleb McMahan in collaboration with Makai Ocean Engineering successfully produced a novel prototype and tested it aboard Hawaiian Fresh Seafood vessel Sea Hunt.
The project was an astounding success and offers an innovative technological solution to the problem of protected species bycatch in the Hawaii Longline Fishery. We are hopeful that this body of work will be recognized as a possible solution for mitigating the fleet's impact on vulnerable species including the critically endangered false killer whale.