Friday JohnKu – AKA – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Photo courtesy NOAA Fisheries

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

Marine biologists have found that $8 green LEDs affixed to fishermen’s gill nets were enough to dissuade vast amounts of sea animals like turtles, rays, and sharks from falling prey to these nets.

Originally tested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on sea turtles off the coast of Hawai’i, they are proving even more effective on Humboldt squid and the elasmobranch family, which contains sharks and rays.

Gill nets are indiscriminate, and if a fisherman snags a thrashing shark, a four-foot-long Humboldt squid—known in Spanish as the “Red Devil”—or an unwelcome stingray, it can be incredibly dangerous entangling them without out-rightly killing them first.

Termed bycatch, the catching of unsought marine life accounts for 40% of all net-caught animals around the world and has been a major threat to sharks, rays, and turtles.

Jesse Senko, a biologist at the State University of Arizona’s School of Life Sciences, found that just a few green lights reduced the amount of elasmobranch and squid caught in fisherman’s nets by 95% and 81%, respectively.

The all-important loggerhead sea turtle was also bycaught 51% less frequently.

Furthermore, even non-game species of fish steered clear of the green light more than in the unlit control nets.

“We were stunned with our findings,” one researcher told Reuters.

In their study published in Cell.com, Senko and the rest of the research team compared 5,000 lit nets to 5,000 unlit nets off the coast of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, where several species of sharks and rays are declining due to bycatch, including the devil and manta rays.

Somehow, even though regular non-game fish were reduced, there was no difference statistically in the amount of game species caught in the lit and unlit nets, meaning there was no change to fishermen’s income.

“Regardless, the increased operational efficiency and reduction in total bycatch could justify the costs to fishers that convert to illuminated nets. In cases of high biodiversity and conservation importance, governments and NGOs could subsidize their adoption,” Senko wrote.

“In other gillnet fisheries, net illumination has been estimated to cost as little as $16 to $34 to prevent a sea turtle bycatch event. We encourage conservation practitioners, fishery managers, and other stakeholders to work with industry to develop new technologies, domestically manufacture LED lights, and seek new methods to increase efficiency and availability.”

One of the unexpected and rather cool reactions of reducing this bycatch was the amount of time it took to haul in and untangle nets, saving an average of 63 minutes per trip.

The good news here is game saving fishing techniques also bring higher profits to fisherfolk.

Today’s JohnKu talks about a winning solution. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Winner by John W. Howell © 2022

The best solution,

To a problem is crafted. . .

Where everyone wins.

 

103 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  13. That’s really cool. I have to admit that it is odd. I’d think more animals avoid the nets. Maybe the ones you catch don’t notice the lights or mistake them for prey. Bigger animals may see them as obstacles. Also, what about dolphins?

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Thanks a lot, dear John, for spreading this important info. We didn’t know about the effect of green light in fishing.
    Wishing you a wonderful weekend
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  16. This is especially interesting since white light has been used ‘forever’ to attract fish at night. I wonder what the difference between green and white light is, and also wonder where green light would be advantageous for other sorts of night fishermen.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. What a wonderfully simple solution that I hope many start using to protect the turtles, squid, and sharks while netting fish 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  20. I saw this on the news last night. It’s nice to know simple solutions still work in a world where everything seems overly complicated.

    Like

  24. How wonderful that these lighted nets don’t seem to deter the fish desired but do the “innocent victims”. Let us hope they all implement such tactics!
    Happy Friday, John.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. 40% of unsought marine life—I had no idea the percentage was so high. How odd that the lights seem to affect some species. Interesting and happy story.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. What an interesting story, John. It’s great to read about these innovative solutions and the greater effect they have on our natural world. People like this always impress me.

    Like

  39. Wow, something as simple as a green light helps! I hope all fishermen convert to adding green lights to their nets. It does seem like a win/win!

    I wonder if it was discovered totally by accident by having a green light on the net in case a diver had to go down and untangle the net and they just left it on to save time, and voila! A cool discovery was made by a happy accident?

    Like

  42. That’s amazing! And who on earth thought, “Maybe if we attached green lights, the fish we don’t want will steer clear, but the fish we do want will still come.” How is that even possible? Again, I say, amazing! Love these good news posts, John!

    Liked by 1 person

  43. This is encouraging news. As a veggie, I don’t eat fish. I like them, and want to be their friend.
    I want to be a friend to all animals. It’s challenging in this world.
    The only flesh in this girl is the 10 pounds I’ve gained in the 2 years of the poundemic.

    Excellent JohnKu!

    Liked by 1 person

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