Smelts Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society

Smelts Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society, doing business as Smelts, is a tax-exempt non-profit based in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, that designs and manufactures ropeless (buoyless) fishing systems and underwater acoustic release mechanisms for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a prime recipient and grant recipient. Smelts competes in full-and-open federal procurements with no set-aside designation and operates exclusively with a single federal customer.

All twelve of Smelts's recent awards derive from the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, representing 100% of the combined potential value of $16.4 million. The vendor's federal footprint centers entirely on NOAA's marine mammal protection mission, specifically the development and operational deployment of fishing gear technologies designed to eliminate persistent vertical buoy lines that entangle endangered North Atlantic right whales and other protected marine species.

Smelts's prime contract work comprises three definitive firm fixed-price contracts totaling approximately $16.3 million for supply of buoyless/ropeless fishing systems to NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center. A $6.6 million contract awarded August 29, 2024, with ultimate completion by August 22, 2029, provides up to 20 deck systems (controller, transducer, interface) and up to 50 underwater acoustic release systems; a $5.2 million contract awarded July 1, 2022, with completion date June 30, 2024, supplied comparable buoyless systems; and a $4.4 million contract awarded the same date similarly delivered ropeless systems for operational testing by pot and trap fishermen. All three contracts are firm fixed price with tiered pricing reflecting system configuration and shipping at point of order. Place of performance for all contracts is Sedro-Woolley, Washington.

Smelts's grant portfolio spans six cooperative agreements and one project grant from NOAA's Unallied Science Program (CFDA 11.472) and Fisheries Development and Utilization Research and Development Grants Program (CFDA 11.427). A $543.8 thousand project grant awarded December 1, 2022, funded development and delivery of ropeless lobster gear to three commercial fishermen in Maine and Massachusetts, incorporating smart buoys, acoustic modems, and directional acoustic transponder technology to test different gear retrieval systems. A $433.6 thousand cooperative agreement awarded January 1, 2023, supported ropeless lift-bag technology development and testing with partner fishermen to reduce marine mammal entanglement in fixed-gear operations. A $246.5 thousand cooperative agreement awarded January 1, 2022, advanced ropeless technology in the Gulf of Maine. A $320.6 thousand cooperative agreement awarded July 1, 2026, funds construction of four gillnet rafts equipped with JASCO OceanObserver and BlueIQ OpenEar acoustic AI sensors for automated marine mammal detection, including North Atlantic right whale detection capability, integrated with Teledyne modems and CatchCam cameras for four-day video capture at commercial offshore gillnet locations, with shipboard control systems for marking and recovery of ropeless gear on commercial fishing vessels. Smelts also serves as a sub-recipient on a sub-grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (awarded April 5, 2024) to add acoustic marking technologies to lift-bag fishing gear for North Atlantic right whale conservation. Awards per year show activity in 2020 (2 awards), 2022 (4 awards), 2023 (1 award), 2024 (3 awards), and 2026 (1 award), with only one award (the July 2026 cooperative agreement) facing ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months.