Latest News from Fumunda
| 10 Dec 09 |
Fumunda supplies Whale Pingers to protect migrating whales from entanglement in shark nets. |
| 26 Nov 09 |
Fumunda wins the ‘Social Capitalist’ Award at the 2009 Anthill Cool Company Awards |
| 31 Oct 09 | Sultans of ping: Qld firm hopes new sound barrier can save whales Source: The Age, Melbourne, Australia (TheAge.com.au) |
| 29 Oct 09 | Fumunda working with government to protect migrating whales |
| 5 Sept 09 | Saving dolphins trawls in net profits Source: The Australian, by Morris Kaplan |
| 3 Sept 09 | Seafood Industry protects Australia's dolphins |
| 25 Feb 09 |
ABC Coast FM - James Turner, describes what a pinger is |
| 16 Feb 09 | Innovative company setting out to save the world's dolphins |
Thursday 10 December 2009
Fumunda supplies Whale Pingers to protect migrating whales from entanglement in shark nets.
James Turner is interviewed by ABC Brisbane Radio about how Fumunda pingers will be added to shark nets to alert whales and prevent further entanglements.
ABC Interview - Whale Pingers on shark nets 10Dec09 (3068 KB)
Thursday 26 November 2009
Fumunda wins the ‘Social Capitalist’ Award at the 2009 Anthill Cool Company Awards
Queensland-based eco-marine company Fumunda was won the Energy Matters “Social Capitalist” Award at Anthill’s 4th Annual Cool Company Awards, held in Southbank, Victoria, on Thursday 26th November.Fumunda produces a low frequency “pinger” device that alerts whales, dolphins and porpoises to the presence of fishing nets in the water. These acoustic alarms reduce incidental entanglement by 95%. Designed by a team of highly experienced fishers, Fumunda’s Pinger is widely acknowledged as the best in the world and is marketed internationally by distributors in the US, Europe and China, and via direct sales to end users in Australia.
“Fumunda should be very pleased with its success,” said James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine. “The Cool Company Awards attracted over 350 nominations from some very cool companies from all across Australia.”
The Anthill Cool Company Awards were launched in 2006, as a way to acknowledge and celebrate Australian companies that are doing things differently to bring about positive change.Social Capitalists successfully apply commercial principles to social issues. The award looks for sustainable success in tackling a social issue while maintaining revenue growth, or experiencing commercial success as a result. Whilst all the finalists were undeniably cool, Fumunda stood out as a very deserving winner.
The national awards were held at a Cocktail Ceremony at the spectacular Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday 26th November 2009, where category winners and the ‘Coolest Company Award’ were announced. Please find the full list of award winners and finalists attached.
“Fumunda can proudly boast that they have won one of Australia’s ‘most unique’ business awards,” said Tuckerman. The 2009 Cool Company trophies are a sight to behold – individually designed, one-of-a-kind canvas paintings, to reflect this year’s Pop-Art theme.
What are the Cool Company Awards?
The annual Cool Company Awards were created to publicly acknowledge and celebrate Australian organisations that are doing things differently – companies that defy convention to bring about positive change. The 2009 Cool Company Awards were judged across six categories. Each category winner competed against other category winners for the overall ‘Coolest Company Award’.
What is Anthill Magazine?
Anthill is a national media company dedicated to innovation, entrepreneurship and rapid business growth, through the production of magazines, digital content and events. Launched from the spare-bedroom of its then 26-year-old founder in late 2003, Anthill is known for its edgy and often irreverent approach to business reporting. According to Nielsen Online Ratings, Anthill Online is among the Top 50 Business and Finance Sites in Australian and among the Top 20 Media Sites in Australia.
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Thursday 29 October 2009 Norwegian Maritime Magazine (www.bairdmaritime.com)
Fumunda working with government to protect migrating whales
Fumunda Marine is working with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries to reduce the number of migrating whales caught in shark nets along the east coast of Australia.
Fumunda Director James Turner said he was very excited that the Queensland DPI&F had commissioned Fumunda to improve existing acoustic alarm devices, or pingers as they are known, which alert whales to the presence of nets used in shark control programs.
Mr Turner said that Fumunda, which has successfully developed pingers to alert porpoises and dolphins to the presence of fishing nets, was well into the design and engineering phase of the new improved whale pingers.
“Pingers emit a low‐frequency signal that alert porpoises, dolphins and whales to the presence of commercial fishing equipment, thereby helping to ensure that interactions between the set fishing gear and marine mammals are avoided,” he said.
“We are passionate about working with stakeholders such as government and fishermen to find a solution that works for everyone,” he said.
Mr Turner said that in addition to the Queensland DPI&F commission, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries had made enquiries with a view to ordering the new Pingers.
“Whales are wonderful creatures and it’s great to see their numbers increasing, so we are delighted to be working with both New South Wales and Queensland Governments to achieve this,” he said.
The new pingers have been designed to operate at a very low frequency known to be audible to whales. The new pingers will be significantly more powerful than the existing models.
The new Fumunda low frequency pinger will be significantly smaller and lighter than the existing pinger technology, making handling and fitting to the nets much easier. They will be made using high quality internal components and long-lasting replaceable batteries, ensuring reliable performance.
Mr. Trevor Long, Director of Marine Sciences at Sea World, has also thrown his support behind the improvement of existing acoustic technology.
“We need to be more proactive in the protection of our marine life from the danger that shark nets present. New technology such as the Fumunda ‘pingers’ are certainly an advancement in the right direction, Trevor said.
“Fewer whale entanglements in shark nets in the future, is something we all want to see”, he said.
Mr Turner said he was very pleased to be working on this project to help protect marine mammals, which have always held a fascination for him.
“Whales and dolphins are such intelligent and unique creatures, and we have a responsibility to protect them,” he said.
“Approximately 12,000 whales travel up and down the east coast of Australia each year, and the team at Fumunda, like the New South Wales and Queensland Departments of Primary Industries want to reduce the number of incidental entanglements.
He said to help achieve this the Queensland DPI&F would also increase the number of whale pingers deployed to further enhance whales ability to detect them.
“Our whale pinger technology has applications globally and we hope to work with other stakeholders to further protect these wonderful marine mammals.”
Mr Turner said; for example, on the coast of Western Australia more than 17,000 Humpback whales make the migration to the warmer northern waters for breeding, having to navigate through thousands of lobster pots which are set everyday.
“Our whale pingers could very easily be deployed in clusters of lobster pots to reduce the risk,” he said.
“I am very keen to talk with the West Australian authorities about this opportunity.”
The new whale pingers are expected to go into production later this year, and will be deployed up the east coast of Australia well in advance of the northern whale migration, which starts around the beginning of May.
31 October, 2009, The Age, Melbourne, Australia by Scott Casey (TheAge.com.au)
Sultans of ping: Qld firm hopes new sound barrier can save whales
They might sound to a human like a truck backing up but to whales and dolphins they can mean the difference between life and death.
A Queensland company is on the front line of developing underwater "pingers" to reduce the number of whales and dolphins that are caught in shark nets every year across the world.
Fumunda Marine, which is based at the University of the Sunshine Coast Innovation Centre, has been working for 10 years on the technology to alert dolphins to the presence of shark or fishing nets.
"They (pingers) are used all around the world - in New Zealand, the United States on the east and west coast, Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, England...pretty well any major fishing country in Europe," said Fumunda director James Turner.
"They are very effective in stopping dolphins - we get around about an 80 to 95 per cent effective rate."
Fumunda is now working with the State Government on trialling a new alarm that is stronger and transmits on a lower frequency to deter whales from shark nets.
"It's a constant frequency tone and where various frequencies have been played back to whales it's an identification response that something is there...a net is there," said Geoff McPherson, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow at James Cook University's School of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
"If you were to swim right by a net you would certainly hear it, no questions about that. Sound travels really well through water," Mr Turner said.
However, while swimmers, whales and dolphins will hear the noise near the nets, sharks will not and will subsequently continue to be trapped in the nets.
"Sharks don't operate using a sonar echolocation system like whales and dolphins so they don't have any impact on sharks at all...the target in this case is the humpback whale," Mr Turner said.
Mr Turner said shark nets would continue to be necessary as there were significant challenges in developing technology to repel sharks, some of which were critically endangered.
"There is a lot of research going on into what stimulates sharks - is it visual, sound or vibration? And that to a large degree is unknown. Plus it is easy to put a dolphin in a big tank where they can test their reaction to sounds but with sharks it's very different," he said.
"You're dealing with a wild animal that is a fantastic eating machine. If you're going to try and pretend you're going to do something with an audio signal to stop a shark it's not going to happen.
"But wouldn't it be fantastic to develop some sort of acoustic wall that sharks don't pass? That is the holy grail."
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5 September 2009, The Australian, by Morris Kaplan
Saving dolphins trawls in net profits
BEING an entrepreneur on the Sunshine Coast would seem to tick many boxes as a sea change destination -- beautiful location, community spirit and a local culture supporting innovation. Former sports management entrepreneur James Turner concurs. Turner, who spent 20 years in Europe based in Milan, says: "You miss the laid-back Australian way."
His Sunshine Coast-based venture, Fumunda, is developing and marketing the $100 "pinger", a device that might save many dolphins from excruciating death as by-catch in fishing nets. He says it emits a signal that deters dolphins, porpoises and whales from commercial fishing gear.
"As a surfer growing up in Australia, you hate seeing all those dolphins and porpoises lost as a result of entanglement in commercial fishing," he says. "It brought me back home."
Barely a year into commercialising the technology, the company is achieving revenue, with orders from Queensland's Department of Primary Industry for use on shark nets, and from Ocean Watch, a national environmental not-for-profit company that works to achieve sustainability in the seafood industry.
The venture has achieved some important milestones, with distributorships signed up for potentially lucrative international markets and an expansion in the range of products to four models. Turner says manufacturing, currently carried out in Thailand, has been significantly upgraded to cater for future expansion.
By-catch accounts for about 300,000 dolphins and porpoises a year as a result of entanglement in commercial fishing equipment. Pingers, when bound to the nets, deter marine mammals because the sound is picked up by their sonar-like sensor system. "They try to avoid it," Turner says. Pingers are mandatory in the US and parts of Europe. "The fishers have to use them over there. The devices were tested with success rates of up to 90 per cent."
A longtime surfer and snowboarder, Turner felt "burnt out" by his European business experience. "I sold my business, I sold my chalet. I'd made a good living doing something I really loved."
He says his 20-year stint was founded on his capacity to deal effectively with multinationals such as Nokia, Pepsi and Valentines, which wanted to reach the GenY market. "As a snowboarder, they saw me as link to the 18 and 19-year-olds. That's how I got into the sports marketing business."
On his return to Queensland, he was offered a business development role for Fumunda by the inventor of the device. "A lifelong interest in marine conservation piqued my interest. I saw a market opportunity. Here was an effective solution. I couldn't understand why there wasn't one in every fishing net."
Turner acquired a "near-defunct" business to secure the technology. "You could say I liked the product so much I bought the company. If we can't address those issues with charismatic fauna -- dolphins, porpoises and whales -- then what hope do we have? That's really what drove me."
Passion may have driven his decision, but Turner is under no illusions about his bottom line. The market potential for pingers is relatively easy to assess. Creating a demand for the product and raising the capital are bigger challenges. "Literally you calculate the number of vessels operating around the world -- that gives you your total market. We know there are 1680 relevant licences in Australia, I worked out how many nets and how long the nets were and you arrive at a very accurate number. In Australia we need 12,000 pingers to fit out every vessel. Then you extrapolate the cost, let's say it's $100 a unit. That's $1.2 million -- not a lot of money to save dolphins and porpoises across Australia."
The business case is based on a co-operative approach between government and industry. "Looking at the US model brought a realisation that to make long-term changes to the practices in the fishing industry, you had to work with the industry. You had to make sure your product provides benefits to fishers. It's one thing to go out with a product and say, 'Hey, this will save dolphins', but if there's not a genuine benefit for the fishers, they're likely to resist taking it up. They are, after all, small businesses.
"It's a world first -- a non-legislative approach with some government support -- where we can mitigate the by-catch of marine mammals to reduce 85-90 per cent of losses. It's a model we want to take internationally."
He says he has expressions of interest from Denmark, Argentine and Peru. "You need industry to take up the technology voluntarily. So I started working with a Sydney-based group, Ocean Watch, an NGO controlled by the commercial fishing industry in Australia."
His marketing experience with multinationals has been invaluable. "It's pretty clear we can go to the oil companies, for example. There's a big commercial opportunity for them. There are thousands of fishermen, all of whom drive big boats that guzzle fuel, oil and lubricants. Putting the oil companies together with the fishing industry, giving them a targeted approach. If these companies are perceived to be helping small businesses operate in a more sustainable and efficient manner -- no down-time removing dolphins from nets -- then they're building a relationship. It'll help their image.
"It's about promoting awareness of the product. Nobody knew about pingers 12 months ago. What I've been doing is getting it out of the lab and putting it into the public consciousness.
"I need to get corporate Australia involved. They'll see the benefits. After all, it's one of the most iconic species on the planet."
Turner says his days of being a one-man show are numbered. "It's now a case of ramping the business up. At what point are you willing to take on more risk by expanding the business to bring staff on? I'd like to have 10-15 staff, including some researchers for product development. This is now a serious endeavour -- if I disappear, nobody in Australia will pick it up."
Imperiled species the catch in fishing methods
THE capture and collateral mortality of non-target marine animals resulting from fishing activity is referred to as by-catch.
It occurs worldwide in every type of fishing gear, including in recreational and commercial fishing. According to the Marine Technology Society Journal (Autumn 2006 issue), unintended injuries and fatalities to non-target marine species -- a major component of by-catch -- is one of the principal threats to the survival of many endangered marine populations and species.
One example of by-catch is dolphins caught in tuna nets. As dolphins are mammals and do not have gills they may drown while stuck in nets underwater.
But stopping one commercial fishing practice, for example gill netting, which some researchers advocate, does not stop the problem of by-catch, it merely moves it to another area. Whether we like it or not, commercial fishing is vital. It's Australia's fourth-largest primary industry.
Fumunda Marine director James Turner says commercial fishing needs to become sustainable. "It has to; 35 per cent of world grain is used to feed livestock instead of people." (National Geographic June 2009).
By-catch reduction is a dynamic field with many examples of effective techniques. Millions of dollars, much sourced from industry and universities, are spent each year in the research and development of fishing techniques.
There's an entire industry devoted to preventing or reducing by-catch, experimenting and adopting a variety of techniques to mitigate losses and to highlight priorities for research and development, with the majority directed at reducing by-catch in longline fisheries, and intended to benefit primarily seabirds, sea turtles, and small mammals.
Most investment in conservation occurs in economically developed countries (principally the US, Canada, Australia and Europe).
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3 September 2009
Seafood industry protects Australia’s dolphins
OceanWatch Australia is working in partnership with commercial gill net fishers to protect Australia’s dolphins by extending the use of state-of-the-art, acoustic deterrent devices, known as pingers.OceanWatch Australia, a national not-for-profit organisation, announced the initiative, under its advancing sustainable fisheries program SeaNet, which receives funding and support from the seafood industry as well as the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country environmental grants.
The SeaNet program is a national environmental extension service that for over ten years has worked closely with commercial fishers to reduce the environmental impact of fishing in Australia, by introducing new practices and new technologies. SeaNet has introduced to the industry, in partnership with governments and other groups, new de-hooking devices, the popeye fishbox , square mesh codends, new techniques for deep setting longlines, turtle smart crab pots, all designed to improve fishing and environmental practices.
SeaNet team leader Denis Ballam said they had purchased 370 Fumunda pingers which will be distributed to selected commercial fishers in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Pingers emit a low-frequency signal that alert dolphins, dugongs and whales to the presence of commercial fishing equipment, and thereby ensure that interactions between the set fishing gear and these marine mammals are avoided”, he said.
“OceanWatch has been running the SeaNet program since 1998, with the primary aim of minimising the catch of non-target species (by-catch) and to encourage the best environmental practice for Australia’s commercial fishing sector,” Mr Ballam said.
‘With the support of the Australian Government through the Caring for Our Country grants scheme, SeaNet has been able to purchase pingers from Fumunda Marine, an Australian company based at the University of the Sunshine Coast Innovation Centre in Queensland, to extend these trials’.
“SeaNet has the support of commercial gill net fishers who are keen to adopt the latest available technology, allowing them to continue fishing in a sustainable manner,” Mr Warren said.
“Fishers tell us pingers are easy to use and reduce unwanted interactions significantly, which is not only good for the marine environment but also means a more efficient operation.” Mr Warren said.
“The challenge we face is extending the availability of pingers to all Australia’s gill net vessel operators, and to do that we will need financial support from both government and the corporate sector.” Mr Warren said.
Mr Ballam said with the global focus on protecting marine mammals it was an ideal opportunity for Government and corporate sponsors to come on board -with this program that will see us continue to be global leaders in commercial fishing best practice and marine conservation.
For more information about the Oceanwatch program visit www.oceanwatch.org.au. For more information about the pingers visit www.fumunda.com.
25 February 2009
ABC Coast FM - James Turner, describes what a pinger really is and how they work
Listen to the radio interview with James Turner, Fumunda, and Cam Young, ABC Radio.
ABC Radio Interview - James Turner describers pngers 25 Feb 09 (4016 KB)
16 February 2009
Innovative company setting out to save the world’s dolphins
A new Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast based company is working with fishermen in Australia and around the world in an effort to save the more than 300,000 dolphins and porpoises killed in commercial gill nets around the world annually.
Fumunda Marine has developed a state-of-the-art, acoustic deterrent device – called a pinger - that when immersed in water emits a signal that alerts porpoises and dolphins to the presence of commercial fishing gear.
Fumunda Marine director James Turner said dolphin and porpoise gill net by-catch was a worldwide problem that is largely preventable by correctly deploying Pingers.
“There are over 300,000 dolphins and porpoises lost in gill nets around the world each year and yet studies in the US and Europe have shown that pingers attached to gill nets can reduce dolphin and porpoise by-catch by up to 95% because the mammals were alerted to the presence of nets using their echo-location systems,” he said.
Mr Turner said while in some areas of Europe and the US the use of pingers was compulsory for large fishing vessels, he believed more and more fishermen would choose to use them because the costs of non-targeted species by-catch were expensive.
“Dolphin and porpoise by-catch can cause significant damage to the nets resulting in expensive repairs and lost fishing time. Depredation – whereby dolphins eat the intended catch, can also be reduced significantly using Pingers,” he said.
“There are other pingers on the market overseas but ours is unique. It has been designed by fishermen based on their precise understanding of the often harsh on board working conditions experienced at sea. Fumunda pingers emit a 10khz frequency at 132db every 4 seconds which over the past decade has proven to be the most effective pinger characteristics in reducing dolphin and porpoise by catch.
“It is also more durable and significantly smaller than many pingers on the market and includes a water contact switch so the pingers do not need to be individually switched on each time the net is deployed, saving fishermen valuable time. They are powered by a replaceable battery, which makes our pingers more cost-efficient, compared to others that require the whole pinger to be replaced when battery life is over. It also makes our Pingers more environmentally friendly,” Mr Turner said, especially as the discarded Pingers are virtually impossible to recycle.
Fumunda Marine is just the latest green-tech company to choose the Innovation Centre as its Australian headquarters.
“We didn’t even consider any other location. The Innovation Centre allows us to access the university network as well as the excellent business development advice through the Centre’s Business Incubator,” Mr Turner said.
“The Innovation Centre offers all the professional benefits that you can normally only access in capital cities, and given the fact that this, like many businesses today, can be run from virtually anywhere, who wouldn’t want to work from a central location on the Sunshine Coast?”
Innovation Centre chief executive Colin Graham said Fumunda Marine had developed a smart and innovative product with a worldwide market.
“Theirs is exactly the sort of business we are aiming to assist,” Mr Graham said.
“The Innovation Centre is a University of the Sunshine Coast company dedicated to the development of the region’s economy.
The Innovation Centre offers competitive, state-of-the-art offices, with a great location close to the university and to the business and technology precinct to be developed across the road,” he said.
“Not only can companies access students from the university, they can locate themselves at what is becoming the ICT, Green Tech, creative and knowledge based hub of the Sunshine Coast.
Fumunda Marine is already talking to peak fishing bodies in Australia and overseas about how they can roll out their product.
“We are a commercial business modelled on a “social enterprise” philosophy meaning that we believe for profit companies must take responsibility for important environmental issues where appropriate. Cleary we see the potential loss of numerous dolphin and porpoise species, many of them endangered, as an important issue ” Mr Turner said.
We work with scientists, universities and international fishing bodies around the world researching and developing new products.
“Fishermen simply don’t like to catch dolphins or porpoises in their nets and with about 1000 gill net fishing vessels currently operating in Australian waters we believe we can make a significant contribution to helping them achieve this. We are approaching several Australian groups at the moment with the hope of bringing broader attention to the problem of dolphin and porpoise by catch in Australia.
“We are also researching new applications for the technology including to protect seals, whales and dugong.”
For more information about the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast visit www.innovation-centre.com.au, phone +61 7 5450 2600 or email innovationcentre@usc.edu.au. For more information about Fumunda Marine visit www.fumunda.com.
Australia Head Office
Innovation Centre
University of the Sunshine Coast
90 Sippy Downs drive,
Sippy Downs 4556
Queensland
Tel: +61 7 5450 2764
fax + 61 7 5459 4547
Mobile +61 (0) 402 003777
United States
828 Ralph McGill Boulevard, Suite 217
Atlanta, Georgia 30306
Ph:888 6PINGER (674-6437)
USA East Coast Distributor
IMP Fishing Gear Limited
44 South Street
New Bedford. MATel. 508 993 0010
Europe
Trade Pinger Company S.L.
Doctor Maranon 4, 2D
VIGO, 36209
Spain
Ph: + 34 692 642 639
China distributor
GENERULE COMMERCIAL & TRADE Co., Ltd
P.R.China
UNIT 1502, 15F,
BUILDING 103,
No. 1251 GUOHE RD., YANGPU,
SHANGHAI, P.R.CHINA
Ph: +86-21-36320539
Cell: +86-13818344948