By Sarah Perry -
The process of turning a clever idea into a quality product is a long one; a fact that small town inventor, Blair Gotell knows all too well. After seven years, the Arichat, Nova Scotia native is just about ready to officially present his original product, the "Stack-A Buoy", to the fishing industry at the Eastern Canadian Fisheries Exposition in Yarmouth, NS on February 27-28.
Buoys seem an unlikely product to dedicate so much time to, considering that they do their job without many drastic complaints; however, upon passing a tangled pile of buoys that stretched almost, to the height of a lobsterman's home, Gotell just couldn't shake the idea that there was room for improvement. That improvement, he believes, is the “Stack-A-Buoy”: Custom colored; plastic floatation devices that are designed to stack on top of each 'other.
Gotell says that while the journey through designing and patenting has required a lot of hard work, it more importantly has been exciting; particularly exciting now, as all the years of hard work have finally brought him within arms reach of actually presenting his product to an industry which he believes can truly benefit from it. The most important benefits that Gotell sees in the "Stack -A-Buoy" system are improvements to safety, storage/shipping and maintenance. He says that unlike original buoys which roll around deck tangling themselves into a mess, his buoys stack neatly together with grooves that are designed to hide the ropes. He also claims that his design reduces space needed for storage or shipping by 30%, while more durable construction completely erases the time and materials needed for annual maintenance generally required for buoys. Perhaps most importantly in light of the ever intensifying global push to "go green,"
"Stack-A-Buoy" is 100% recyclable.
While "Stack-A-Buoy" is Gotell's invention, he's had some much needed support along the way from organizations such as The Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI), Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC), InNOVAcorp, Dalhousie University's Advanced Manufacturing Group and the Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development
(NSED).
The greatest market for Gotell's "Stack-A-Buoy" is the lobster fishery; however, other fisheries use buoys as well and from market research Gotell also sees a use for them in aquaculture and boating as well as within recreational and environmental activities. The design is complete, the patents are in place and now Blair Gotell does the last bit of primping before he launches his vision into the fishing industry!
- www.thenavigatormagazine.com Vol 12 No 02, February 2009
