Enjoying media attention that few entrepreneurs receive, Vince Stuart is looking for a ``major equity partner’’ for his patented Bait Savour, a device that allows fishermen to reset their lobster trap while it is underwater.

Bait Savour, which won the $100,000 prize for the Annapolis Valley and Digby region in Innovacorp’s I-3 competition in January, allows lobster or crab fishermen to extend the period of time that their traps are baited. The device is a container with a small fuse that dissolves in water, releasing fresh bait into the trap. 

A trip out to check traps can cost lobster fishermen up to $700 in fuel, so the $50 Bait Savour solves a huge financial pain for them.

Stuart has been working on Bait Savour for about eight years and sought the help of Matt d’Entremont of Dalhousie University’s Innovation and Design Lab about 18 months ago to improve the cost effectiveness of the product. Stuart is producing about 4,000 of the devices this year, all of which are spoken for by local lobster fishermen.

Stuart wants to return to his other interests, such as his machine shop in Clare, so he is looking for a larger partner that could mass produce the devices. Asked if he wanted someone to buy the business or simply pay a licensing fee, Stuart said he is open to any option.

``I’m searching for a major equity partner,’’ said Stuart in a phone interview. ``I’ve had a lot of interest but haven’t wanted to get too deep into it just yet.’’ He explained that he is focused now on finishing off the current orders.

This weekend, I contacted Stuart at his home in Meteghan Centre, near the southern tip of Nova Scotia, because I was so impressed with the media coverage he’s been getting. He has no website, has hired no PR advisers, yet the coverage of his product has been astonishing.

He received some attention during the I-3 competition then Popular Science took an interest in Bait Savour. The American magazine spent six weeks doing due diligence on the device, and ended up naming it one of the top 10 inventions of the year.

CBC and the Canadian Press have recently done stories on it too. The latter piece spent Saturday morning on the front page of the Globe and Mail website, and was picked up by 3,000 news sites. Stuart has since been contacted by people in China, Russia and Australia who read the story.