Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation is an opportunity to see change as an opportunity — not a threat.”
Canada’s marine industries are embracing the opportunities that come with technological innovations, as can be seen in events like Fish Canada Workboat Canada (FCWC) in Moncton, New Brunswick. As Canada’s largest marine trade show, FCWC provides the industry’s best and brightest innovators the opportunity to showcase the future of the fishing industry.
Some companies, like Glas Ocean Electric, showcased the industry’s willingness to decarbonize in the face of climate change. Glas Ocean offers its customers a conversion kit known as HyMarine, which allows any diesel-engine boat to be converted into a hybrid electric. The company even offers a smartphone app, known as PerforMarine, to monitor the performance of its HyMarine system.
In the same vein, Halifax-based BlueGrid allows those who convert to electric boats to feed power back into their electric grid with their vessel-to-grid technology. BlueGrid connects vessels to the grid bidirectionally, allowing the boats to charge when necessary while also feeding their power back into the electricity grid when demand is high. This not only allows vessel owners to contribute to decarbonization measures, but to benefit financially through rebates by turning their boats into small-scale power plants.
Likewise, Canadian fishers and mariners are embracing data analytics as another means of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions using systems like those offered by the Québec-based company MarenTrack and the Icelandic company Hefring Marine. These systems allow the operator of the boat to receive real-time data on the vessel to help reduce the fuel consumption and wave impact on vessels, allowing operators to reduce their fuel consumption by anywhere from 15 to 25 per cent.
Innovation isn’t always electronic, either, as TriNav Marine Design showcased with its E-FINN hull design. The hull is a reimagination of the classic Nova Scotia lobster boat, with a series of small changes that add up to a significant improvement in efficiency. The E-FINN features recessed keel coolers and transducers, an elongated bow that is fared into the hull of the vessel, an airfoil-inspired rudder and many other small design tweaks that add up to big savings. The E-FINN design boasts fuel savings of around 20 per cent to help save both the environment and the operator’s money.
Canada’s fisheries are also on track to go paperless. As fish harvesters across the country move away from traditional fishing logbooks, ELOGS from companies like Jobel, Sofistofish and Vericatch have been working to create a viable electronic alternative for those who work at sea. All three promise a simplified manner to log catches of multiple species and report them to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a secure, reliable manner.
As more and more regulations come into effect to stop the entanglement of whales in fishing gear, companies at FCWC like DevOcean and Ashored Innovations have stepped up to provide harvesters with rope-on-command (ROC) systems. ROC traps are designed to rest on the ocean floor without a vertical line and buoy, which allows whales and other at-risk species to swim above them without the risk of entanglement. Ideally, ROC systems would allow harvesters to continue fishing in areas that have been closed due to whale activity.
Whatever hurdles the Canadian fishing industry has faced recently, whether that be climate change, regulatory hurdles or operating costs — innovators have been quick to provide solutions to just about any problem. If anything can be taken away from the 2024 edition of FCWC, it is that the spirit of innovation is alive and well in Canada’s marine industries.
