# Blue Ocean Gear

> Blue Ocean Gear builds Smart Buoys - rugged, connected buoys that track the real-time location and movement of fishing and aquaculture gear deployed at sea. Using dual-band satellite and radio links feeding a cloud platform and mobile app, the company helps commercial fishers find lost gear faster, spot problems early, cut fuel-burning search time, and reduce 'ghost gear' that fouls the ocean. Founded in 2015 and based in Sausalito, California, it serves wild-capture fisheries, aquaculture farms, and research institutions from New England to the South Pacific.

- **Founded:** 2015
- **Headquarters:** Sausalito, California, United States
- **Founders:** Kortney Opshaug (Founder & CEO)
- **Team size:** ~9 employees
- **Products:** Farallon Smart Buoy System, Smart Buoys (connected buoy platform), Cloud data platform & mobile/web app, Whale-safe / ropeless gear systems, FAD monitoring
- **Notable:** Helps gear-intensive fisheries reduce gear loss rates by up to 90%., Customers report cutting up to 8 hours of daily searching, reducing fuel use and CO2 emissions., Won multiple NOAA SBIR awards (Phase I 2022, Phase II 2023) to ruggedize buoys for Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

## Products & services

- **Farallon Smart Buoy System** — A depth-rated, ruggedized hard-plastic buoy small enough to be stored inside a crab or lobster pot, yet durable enough to survive offshore deck handling and heavy seas. It transmits location and movement data via Iridium satellite and radio.
- **Smart Buoys (connected buoy platform)** — Intelligent, connected buoys that provide near real-time location, movement tracking, and local condition monitoring of fixed fishing and aquaculture gear including lines, traps, and nets, using dual-band satellite and radio communication.
- **Cloud data platform & mobile/web app** — Software that ingests buoy telemetry into cloud databases and surfaces it on mobile and web dashboards, including hot-spot mapping from historical data to help fishers avoid conflicts and bad conditions.
- **Whale-safe / ropeless gear systems** — A combined buoy and lift-bag system developed with partners to enable safer, ropeless deployment and retrieval that reduces whale entanglement risk, field-tested along the Maine coast.
- **FAD monitoring** — Tracking for offshore anchored Fish Aggregating Devices, giving local fishers access to pelagic fish while reducing pressure on coral reefs.

## Achievements

- Helps gear-intensive fisheries reduce gear loss rates by up to 90%.
- Customers report cutting up to 8 hours of daily searching, reducing fuel use and CO2 emissions.
- Won multiple NOAA SBIR awards (Phase I 2022, Phase II 2023) to ruggedize buoys for Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
- Member of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative.
- Deployed in fisheries from New England to the South Pacific.
- Developed and field-tested whale-safe ropeless gear along the Maine coast.

## Latest updates

- **2023-05** — Closed a $4.2M Series A round to accelerate production and growth.
- **2023** — Awarded a $648,918 NOAA SBIR Phase II grant to develop ruggedized buoys for Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
- **2022** — Received a $149,478 NOAA SBIR Phase I grant and advanced whale-safe ropeless gear testing with Crab Raft, Inc.

## Links

- Website: https://blueoceangear.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/blue-ocean-gear
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/blueoceangear_
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@blueoceangear
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blueoceangear
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myBlueOceanGear/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/blue-ocean-gear
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-15