Aquatec Order Brings Sales Past 10,000 Units
Aquatec Group (stand 72 at Ocean Business 2007) received an order for 250 AQUAmark pingers from MacArtney (stand 36). The AQUAmark 100 is an acoustic deterrent that is targeted specifically at the harbour porpoise, a member of the Dolphin family. This sale takes the number of AQUAmark deferrents sold to beyond 10,000 since the devices were first placed on the market in 1999.
Harbour porpoises are endangered by commercial fishing using gillnets, but the AQUAmark has been shown to completely eradicate accidental porpoise drownings in the Danish fisheries during commercial fishing operations with observers.
The device emits a random sequence of low-power acoustic signals. Rather than frightening the marine mammals, they appear to act as a simple warning beacon, causing the animals to avoid the net hazards.
