Remora

Ghost nets are parts of fishing nets that have been lost or abandoned in the sea by crews. These pieces of gear carry on trapping fish and cetacea before breaking into thousands of pieces to become part of the plastic soup floating in our oceans.

Remora is a system of RFID tags that are designed to be attached to tuna seining nets. Paired with an app, these unobtrusive devices help fishermen locate, retrieve, and repair aboard ghost nets. The tags are safety orange to contrast the azure hue of the high seas. They are designed to stand out.




School
Elisava

Prototype
2014

James Dyson Award
Winner / Spain



Initial prototypes imagined the tags as standard printed circuit boards inside rigid cases, which would be attached to the net with zip ties. However, they proved to add an excessive drag on the net. The development of printed electronics allowed us to propose bigger, yet lighter tags. Made from organic polymer substrates that are bonded into a thin, flexible film. Each tag is a single cutout that bends into itself to attach to the net, tucked by a pin made from a post-consumer plastic blend. Fixed at the knots of the net, they are light and hydrodynamic. 

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