Gloucester Innovation is working with the Lobster Foundation of Massachusetts on a marine IoT project called LobsterNet, which recently received grant funding from the Massachusetts Seaport Economic Council. The grant will support the development of more than 200 ocean sensing devices, called ePods, that will be nested within lobster pots. The ePods will monitor and collect pH and temperature data at the depth and location of the lobster pot. When the trap is hauled, the information will be communicated wirelessly via a SigFox IoT network to our “marine data cloud” where the data will be stored and further analyzed. The pilot project will occur in the summer of 2019 and is expected to generate millions of data points from trap locations across Massachusetts coastal and US federal waters.

Our “Marine Data Cloud” will assist lobstermen increase their productivity/efficiency and measure ocean changes impacting lobster populations, movements, and habitats. Initially targeted at the Massachusetts’ lobstering industry, the use of lobster pots as potential smart sensors and lobster boats as data/communication hubs has applications to all fishermen, and the data has value to federal, state and local agencies, marine industries, research institutions, and ocean-focused citizen scientists. The LobsterNet project is motivated by the critical need for affordable, more ubiquitous sensing which, when combined with predictive analytics, can inform productive, efficient and protective use of our oceans. As a simple, transformative ocean sensing model, we believe that we can develop a marine data cloud service that is infinitely useful and scalable. Important to business. Important to society. Fun to solve, create, and grow.

Lobstermen are responsible for the single most valuable catch in Massachusetts waters. The LobsterNet project will turn a lobster pot into a smart trap with sensor, collect high resolution data about ocean conditions at scale and over time, and generate information products of value to all commercial and recreational fishermen, researchers, and the larger blue economy.