Halifax-based Marine Thinking, which sells tracking and navigation software and hardware for marine environments, is launching commercial trials of its tagging system for preventing lost fishing equipment, known in the industry as ghost gear.

The trials represent the next stage of a research and development project backed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Ghost Gear Fund. Marine Thinking is looking for commercial lobster fishers to trial the tech and offering them $5,000 for their troubles.

To use the system, lobster boat operators will fit their traps with wireless sensors. When the traps are deployed, the sensors will notify the fisher if the gear moves from its original location. An autonomous vehicle can then use sonar to find the errant trap.

“Lost fishing gear … is one of the most common types of marine litter inhabiting our oceans,” says Marine Thinking. “Ghost gear presents a danger to the mortality of marine life, as well as to the safe navigation of marine vessels.

“The cause of this detritus is typically the accidental severing of lines by marine traffic, or inclement weather affecting the operator’s ability to retrieve it.”

Marine Thinking plans to test its system in the federally controlled lobster fishing areas 33 and 34, off Nova Scotia's South Shore.

In March, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it would contribute $250,000 to the R&D project. Last lobster season, which runs from April to June, Marine Thinking piloted its tech with a trio of commercial fishers. At the time, the company said this upcoming round of tests would involve 25 lobster boats.

Also in March Marine Thinking received a $100,000 grant from Sustainable Development Technology Canada to develop the technology.

Founded in 2018, Marine Thinking is helmed by CEO Wenwen Pei and has 27 employees listed on LinkedIn. The company’s other projects include its Marine Tensor platform, which is a machine learning-based autopilot and remote control system for USVs, or unmanned surface vehicles, as well as selling plug-and-play USVs of its own.

Its Tracer USV is also being used by Hampton University in Hampton Virginia to develop a water-monitoring network to track the effects of industrial activity on the river’s ecological health,