Organic Play
We are looking to create a sustainable fishing method that reduces waste in the form of bycatch, minimize disruption to the seafloor and mitigate mass carbon emissions.
Commercial fishing practices, such as bottom trawling, catch non targeted species which creates waste in the form of non-viable catch. In addition to this, methods used to ground these nets on the ground in water cause biodiversity disruption as well as massive carbon emissions when sediment is uprooted- which is more than the commercial aviation industry releases as a whole!
The majority of us rely on the fishing industry for a source of food in our daily lives. As it stands, commercial fishing uses aggressive methods to procure its catch, in the long term this causes a decrease in overall fish populations that we consume like; cod, halibut, sole and more.
CAHTA came up with a solution when submitting an application to an SDG based hackathon. Originally we didn't even know what subject we wanted to look into but found that life below water was a very interesting topic. We then noticed that seabed trawling, while a very common practice, yielded all sorts of ethical and environmental issues. After a few weeks of looking into this problem, we found that using sound emission and a minimally invasive beam would promote more sustainable viable long term practices.
CAHTA catches fish by outputting specific sound waves to trigger targeted species into the net, this yields less bycatch and creates less waste overall. In turn, this means the net does not have to be grounded with weights to catch the lowest dwelling fish, and so minimally invasive beams can be used which will preserve the sediment and reduce CO2 emissions
Currently we are participants of the Lab2Market program held by Ocean Startup Project and have recently accepted the Stage 1 Norman Esch Awards. We are looking forward to evolving work on our idea and experimenting through three of our new incubators, Social Venture Zone, Science Discovery Zone and Innovation Boost Zone- which all reside on the university campus.
Ishaan Takrani, Jazmyne Mohamed, & Venujan Suthakaran, Fahmida Parvage, Co-Founders
Favourite Toronto food on the job/take-out spot?
F: Osmows!
J: Momozone or Tropical Nights
I: Pita and Hummus
V: Yonge St. Warehouse
Favourite spot in Toronto to meet a client/prospective partner?
F: Evergreen Brick Works
J: Any nice cafe is a good setting for a client meeting
I: 8th floor of the TMU library
V: Yonge St. Warehouse
Favourite background music/noise you like to listen to while you work?
F: Bollywood music
J: Lofi girl/boy
I: Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
V: Upbeat motivational music