Active Fishing Systems was launched in 1995 by Maurice Shenker with the mission "to dedicate itself to the research and development of fishing gear and techniques, based on its own innovations as well as on client requirements; to offer novel solutions to the technology-based fisheries of the future".In the 15 years of its existence, a fishing “storm” has been steadily brewing and which is starting to throttle the industry:On the one hand, environmental pressures have been building up with strong demands to reduce the harvesting of species deemed to be overexploited, to close off certain areas to fishing, to stop certain fishing practices and to reduce the damage done to the environment by fishing.On the other hand, certain fishery management practices based on evolving fisheries science, political and other policies and regulations have been put in place, which demand particular fishing and business strategies to be adopted.Then there are the economic issues such as rising fuel costs, high maintenance and replacement costs as well as market factors which influence the options available to the industry.