The Spanish technology company Satlink has launched the first program for the reuse of smart buoys for tropical tuna fishing in the Atlantic Ocean with the NGO Project Biodiversity of Cape Verde. The collaboration between the two entities is part of Project ReCon, an international initiative founded by Satlink and the Australian NGO Tangaroa Blue Foundation. Dedicated to the conservation of marine ecosystems and protected species and habitats, Project Biodiversity joins the Project ReCon with the aim of reconditioning these buoys to enhance shark monitoring, signal protected marine areas and promote onboard safety, among other potential uses.

Project ReCon launched in 2022 and is now present in nine countries and the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. It has set up an international collaboration network of fishing companies and local environmental organizations to recover, recondition, and reuse these buoys for scientific and environmental purposes. In addition to Cape Verde, ReCon in present in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, the U.S., Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia.

These buoys incorporate echosounders that detect the abundance of fish under the device, making them ideal for being reused in small-scale scientific studies, as well as marking and monitoring marine debris and preventing natural disasters.

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