'Ropeless' Lobster Fishing Could Save The Whales. Could It Kill The Industry?

After three decades of fishing for lobsters in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, Rob Martin knows his boat inside and out.

"It's only 40 feet. It was big when I first got it and now it seems small," he says while warming up inside the cabin on a cold morning.

Just as Cape Cod lobstermen have done for centuries, Martin used to check his traps by looking for buoys connected to cages on the ocean floor by ropes.

But his buoys are gone and he is one of a handful of Massachusetts lobstermen testing ropeless fishing systems.

"Everything's ready to go," he calls out as the boat idles about a half-mile outside the Cape Cod Canal, near where he last dropped his traps.

With one hand Martin reaches for a pair of waterproof overalls and with the other he grabs his iPhone to open an app that sends acoustic signals to his traps 50 feet underwater.

"I'm hitting the release command," he explains. "Release!"