Smelts Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society

What it reported doing in 2024

Marine scientists from around the globe have documented that the line and buoy system in pot/trap fisheries has caused injury and death to whales, endangered sea turtles and other marine life. Sublethal injuries which has reduced reproductive capability in marine mammals due to the negative effect from entanglement. There are many marine animals that are listed under the marine mammal protection act (mmpa) and endangered species act (esa) that smelts have priority to develop a solution to protect such creatures from injury. Smelts line less lift bag technology removes the need for vertical lines and buoys needed to haul bottom set trap/pot fisheries which is the current system for bottom set fishing. Large cetacean entanglements have threatened closures for commercial bottom set fishing. Smelts has had great interest and support for its line less lift bag technology from the island foundation, sr 3, noaa, pew charitable trust, national fish and wildlife foundation, division of marine fisheries Massachusetts, California department of fish and wildlife, pacific mammal research, marine-med, blue planet strategies, stellwagen bank national marine sanctuary, woods hole oceanographic institution, and northeast fisheries science center. Smelts has 2 volunteers on its board cindy elliser phd. Of pacific mammal research organization and stephanie norman dvm, ms, phd of marine med organization. Smelts understands the importance of "all handson deck" to work on a solution for the issue of marine mammal entanglement and the future options available to commercial bottom set fishing. Smelts has partnered with us vendors to provide american commerce and an easy access to parts and equipment needed to produce innovative line less lift bag fishing systems. Smelts has set up formal purchasing accounts with these vendors and has had success in finding all parts and equipment needed to make its systems. In the process of development and testing smelts has found that its line less technology has capability for many applications in shallow to deep waters by simple adjustments of its component configurations.this year (2024), smelts continued work with commercial fisherman on the design needs for their industry, using this information smelts has built several sets of successfully tested working lift bag fishing technology, smelts has continued to build collaborations with scientists, educators, fisherman, vendors, government officials, and other NGO's. Smelts to date has developed and tested several different acoustic systems customized for different fishing industry needs. Smelts uses video, pictures and written documentation to capture data on all tests. Bench and ocean testing are documented from our lab, research vessel and with our commercial fishing partners vessels. All fishing trials follow a strict set of protocols developed by (nefsc). Smelts technology has also been tested to retrieve abandoned, lost, derelict fishing gear with success. As part of smelts' education program smelts continues presenting our work and findings at many public forums and meetings and educating on these issues. Smelts shares development and findings of its work and its educational meetings and conferences on its website for public viewing at smelts.org. Smelts continues to develop, test and trial its innovative lift bag fishing systems with many more exciting plans. Smelts continues to forge relationships with commercial fisherman to give a new fishing tool for access into closed areas due to negative interaction with marine life in vertical lines.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 84.3%; rating input score 84
• Program expense ratio: 86.1%; rating input score 86
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 2.1%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.21; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 29.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings