| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | December 11, 2014 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 15, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1447431 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Prakash Balan
pbalan@nsf.gov (703)292-5341 TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | January 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | December 31, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $149,884.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $168,634.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2901 E GATE CITY BLVD STE 2400 GREENSBORO NC US 27401-4904 (703)675-0277 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2901 E Lee St Ste 2400 Greensboro NC US 27401-4904 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | SBIR Phase I |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is a convenient, sustainable, cost effective, and environmentally friendly crustacean bait for novice and professional fishermen worldwide. The novel crustacean fishing bait is completely safe, synthetic, and comprised of the chemical cues released from traditional rotting fish bait. The scent cues release at a tunable rate to provide optimal fishing outcomes. Given the rising cost of fish due to competition with omega-3 pill producers, the labor costs associated with obtaining bait, and the space bait takes up on a fishermen?s boat the new bait will save fishermen time, money, and inconvenience. The societal benefit that stems from the proposed product is likely the dramatic reduction in fish being removed from the ocean for use as crustacean attractants. Currently amount of fish removed from the ocean for bait is estimated to be over 18 million tons, and is significantly disruptive to the oceanic food web. The proposed bait will also reduce unwanted capture and killing of by-catch (e.g. sea turtles, dolphins, and seals) by lessening the need for indiscriminate drift nets they get caught in. Commercially, the product will save fishermen money estimated at over $1,000 per ton of crustaceans.
The objectives of this Phase I research project are to identify those molecules that are given off from current baits, incorporating newly identified (and identified but not yet tested) compounds into a formulated bait prototype product, optimizing the attractant release kinetics, and testing the ability to catch target species. Bait formulations will be evaluated by fishermen on several crustaceans to establish efficacy. It is anticipated that this research will help address the ongoing ecological destruction associated with over-fishing and ocean by-catch. Further, the crustacean industry is struggling with questions about bait sustainability which driven by state and federal regulatory pressures on fishing that could impact conventional bait supply and resulting in higher prices of conventional crustacean bait. These circumstances present an ecological and commercial opportunity for a new baiting alternative. The proposed bait product being developed in this project will help lessen the aforementioned problems by reducing the need to capture bait fish to create crustacean bait, as well as saving fishermen money. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity will be the identification of the chemical cues given off from fish/mammals that most intensely attract all species of crustaceans as well as developing a fine-tuned matrix for releasing these attractants at a dissolution rate desired by fishermen under variable fishing conditions.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Kepley Biosystems Incorporated (KBI) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation markedly advanced the scientific understanding regarding the fundamental signaling mechanisms that control crustacean behavior in response to specific odorants released from animal flesh. Our product, Organobait™, will provide the global fishing communities with an improved and sustainable method to attract crabs and lobsters. Typically, these species’ traps are baited using a vital link in the food chain, forage fish (small schooling pelagic fish).
The intellectual merit of our Phase I project was achieved by accomplishing three fundamental objectives. The first objective was the identification and characterization of molecules released from traditional baits. The isolation of these odorant molecules would serve as the building blocks for the synthetic bait prototype. These identified crustacean-attracting stimuli would be analyzed for potency and concentration in a myriad commonly utilized bait fish or other mammalian/avian-based sources. The next objective was the development of a benign matrix to release molecules at a specific rate in various geophysical environments and conditions. Our creative approach to the matrix formulation would create dissolvable baits that could be refined for each industry and their specific baiting philosophies. For instance, the stone crab industry in Florida deploys traps for as many as 12 to 14 days at a time and the traps for northern lobsters captured in Maine may only be deployed for one to two days. The first two objectives resulted in the development of a super-concentrated, synthetic matrix capable of accommodating numerous industries and redefining the crustacean fishing industries baiting practices. The third objective was to perform field-test evaluations with the help of savvy industry experts and analyze the baits ability to attract crustaceans. The Phase I scientific discoveries were successful at super-concentrating critical bait derived odorants, intercalating the odorants in a time-released matrix, and attracting and capturing crustaceans without the use of forage fish or other animal-based baits. The initial success of our synthetic bait was promising in Phase I and has the ability to transform fishing principals, ease demand and thereby help restore forage fish stocks.
The broader impact of our product is to help alleviate the strain on forage fish, which are presently being exploited by numerous industries. Over the last decade the global supply of forage fish has rapidly decreased due to competition from several industries, including aquaculture, barnyard and domestic animal food, omega 3 supplements, and crustacean fishers; the latter of which are estimated to account for at least a third of commercial consumption. Organobait’s mission is to help mitigate oceanic ecosystem collapse due to the overfishing of forage fish, an environmental imperative with direct benefits to wildlife and ultimately, sustainability of the fishing resources on which humans depend. Forage fish provide the only nutrition for ocean-dwelling marine mammals, seabirds, and several large fish species in the oceanic food web. Nearly 50% of forage fish feeds pelagic fish and sea birds. The declining supply and increased demand have driven up costs, affecting both commercial fishing viability and oceanic health.
In summary, prospective customers of Organobait will appreciate the opportunity to use a low cost, high-performance, and ecologically sustai...
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