The Underwater Baited Hook -- a device which disguises baited longline hooks from seabirds -- beat 71 other contenders from 27 countries and received high praise at the awards event, staged in the exhibition’s main auditorium in front of a large crowd.
The team behind the invention is Phil Ashworth, general manager of Australia-based Amerro Engineering, and Graham Robertson, a principal research scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division.
"It really works, and I believe it works fantastically. But the next step for us is to get the hard data together so that we can present the device, the science and the compelling evidence to the industry," Ashworth told IntraFish.
"The
