Fishtek Marine
Rob has a Ph.D in bycatch mitigation and extensive experience of working with the fishing industry having spent a decade on fishing vessels around the world, and more recently informing EU policy on discards in marine fisheries through the UK Government’s Research and Development agenda. He has spent the last seven years working for a statutory nature conservation body where he was responsible for ensuring the objectivity, quality and transparency of the marine evidence used for designating and subsequently managing Marine Protected Areas. Rob has recently been appointed to the International Whaling Commission’s bycatch expert panel where he feeds in expertise from a gear technology perspective. He leads Fishtek Marine’s sales and marketing, developing relationships with fishing companies, scientists, NGOs and attending fishing conferences around the globe to raise the profile of Fishtek Marine.
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Fishtek Marine
Fishtek Marine is a unique company which draws together a valuable combination of award-winning engineers and fisheries scientists. This talented team focuses its expertise and energy on developing and distributing a range of innovative technical devices which are proven to minimise bycatch in commercial fisheries.The company was first establishedin 1999 by the Kibel brothers. Pete (a fisheries biologist) and Ben (an engineer), initially wanted to use their understanding of behavioural ecology and engineering options to develop technological solutions to the significant issue of marine bycatch. Since then the company has expanded and now has a base in the UK and one in Australia. The number of Fishtek Marine tried-and-tested products continues to grow, and the devices are sold to happy customers all over the world. Trials using Fishtek Marine devices contribute to the emerging independent evidence base which is showing that smart fishing, using dedicated technology, is effective at minimising marine bycatch, supporting more sustainable fishing, and helping safeguard some of the world’s critically endangered species.