Introducing BUOY.fish — Solving Ghost Gear with GPS Tracking
One third of the world's population relies on fish as a daily source of protein. But the equipment used to catch it is being lost on a staggering scale — and the consequences are devastating. BUOY.fish exists to change that.
The Ghost Gear Crisis
Research published in Science Advances estimates that more than 25 million pots and traps are lost to the ocean every year. Industry analysts put annual loss rates at 10-20% of all deployed gear — meaning hundreds of millions of the estimated one billion pots deployed annually vanish beneath the surface.
Unlike other forms of ocean plastic, this "ghost gear" is purpose-built to catch. Lost pots and traps continue trapping and killing marine life for years after they're abandoned. In the Mid-Atlantic alone, derelict crab pots kill an estimated 3.3 million blue crabs each year. Buoy lines ensnare endangered whales. And because ghost gear is designed to survive harsh ocean environments, it far outlasts other forms of marine debris.
Nearly 90% of North Atlantic Right Whales — with fewer than 400 individuals remaining — have been entangled in fishing gear at least once. Some as many as nine times. Gear entanglements remain the leading cause of death for this critically endangered species.
Why Existing Solutions Fall Short
Several organizations have tried satellite-based tracking for fishing gear. The technology works, but the economics are prohibitive: a single satellite buoy can exceed $2,000 in hardware with $30-100/month in service fees. A traditional fishing buoy costs about $10. At these unit economics, adoption will be limited.
"Pop-up" ropeless fishing gear has received significant government investment — California's Ocean Protection Council approved up to $1.825 million for the concept. But as one fisheries commissioner noted, "the only one we've tried is still at the bottom of the bay." Pop-up gear costs roughly 10x a traditional trap and has proven unreliable in real-world conditions.
Meanwhile, cellular connectivity becomes unusable past 2-3 miles from shore, and short-range protocols like WiFi and Bluetooth are irrelevant before a boat leaves the harbor.
Our Approach: LoRaWAN
BUOY.fish uses Low Power, Long Range Wide Area Networking (LoRaWAN) to bridge the gap. Our smart buoys transmit GPS coordinates over 40+ miles of open ocean at a fraction of a cent per data packet. No cellular plan. No satellite subscription. The economics finally work for commercial fishing.
Our smart buoys are built on proven blow-molded resin shells manufactured by Tidal Marine (Go Deep International), who have shipped over one million lobster fishing floats to North Atlantic fisheries. The GPS tracking electronics are embedded inside the spindle, fully potted with two-part expanding resin via an inductive charging system — no ports, no seals to fail. Designed to last 10-15 years.
Proven at Scale
We've moved well beyond prototypes. In partnership with the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, Pro Natura, Fedecoop, and the Ocean Conservancy, we've deployed 80 smart buoys in Punta Abreojos, Mexico — recording over 160,000 location payloads and demonstrating real adoption by working fishermen who painted our buoys in their traditional colors. Read the full story.
We're now deploying 60 buoys in Nova Scotia to protect North Atlantic Right Whale habitat, expanding in Baja California, and planning our first Central American deployment in Costa Rica.
The Stakes
The U.S. seafood industry supports over 1.7 million jobs and generates $255 billion in annual sales. Without action on ghost gear and marine mammal entanglements, regulated domestic fisheries face reduced seasons, closures, or complete shutdowns — shifting demand to imported seafood from regions with far weaker environmental enforcement.
BUOY.fish is building the tracking infrastructure that makes sustainable fishing economically viable. Try the live demo, or get in touch to discuss deploying in your fishery.
