FONTUS Spec

What is FONTUS?

FONTUS is an open standard designed for on-demand gear location marking, retrieval, lost gear recovery, and enforcement in the fishing industry.
It supports buoyless (ropeless) fishing gear, where traditional marking buoys and endlines are removed to reduce entanglement risks for marine life such as whales.
The system integrates three subsystems:
Acoustic devices attached to fishing gear on the sea floor.
Shipboard systems that communicate with devices and the cloud.
A cloud database that stores and shares gear location and status information.

Real-time gear location sharing: Gear positions are accessible to fishers, enforcement agencies, and regulators, ensuring safe navigation and preventing gear conflict.
Automatic deployment and recovery reporting via RFID detection — no manual reporting needed.
Accurate localization of gear with a target accuracy of about 25 feet (8 meters) in high-density fishing areas.
Lost gear discovery and recovery supported through acoustic communication and cloud notifications.
On-demand release mechanism integration for gear retrieval triggered acoustically and securely.
Multi-manufacturer compatibility: Ensures devices from different manufacturers can communicate and interoperate.
Environmental considerations: Minimizes acoustic noise and battery usage to reduce marine impact.

Open standard means FONTUS is publicly documented and available for manufacturers, fishers, regulators, and developers.
Enables interoperability between different manufacturers’ gear and systems.
Facilitates transparent and real-time data sharing for all stakeholders.
Encourages industry-wide collaboration and innovation in on-demand fishing technology.
Compliance with international regulations and supports cross-border fisheries enforcement.

Addresses critical marine conservation issues by reducing marine life entanglements.
Prevents gear conflict and economic loss by clearly marking gear locations.
Provides a scalable and standardized solution for both inshore and offshore fisheries.
Supports enforcement and compliance through real-time data access.
Improves fishing efficiency and safety with automated location and retrieval functions.

Designed to work with existing chart plotters and standard marine navigation hardware.
Supports cloud-based tracking, allowing for extensive data analytics and long-term gear management.
Accommodates both mobile and fixed fishers by adapting gear location data delivery accordingly.
Promotes sustainable fishing practices by integrating environmental safeguards.

For detailed information on the FONTUS acoustic message bit definitions and protocol,
see the FONTUS Bit Definitions document.