Lights on fishnets can save turtles, dolphins: Study

While fishnets are used to catch fishes for the seafood business. The fishnets also capture marine animals including dolphins, turtles and other sea creatures that form an indistinctive part of the flora and fauna. Given the fact, a new study suggests, placing lights on fishing nets reduces the chances of sea turtles and dolphins being caught by accident, new research shows.LED lights along the top of floating gillnets cut accidental 'bycatch' of sea turtles by more than 70 per cent, and that of small cetaceans (including dolphins and porpoises) by more than 66 per cent.The study looked at small-scale vessels departing from three Peruvian ports between 2015 and 2018, and found the lights didn't reduce the amount of fish caught from 'target species' (ie what the fishers wanted to catch). The results of the study were published in the journal Biological Conservation."Gillnet fisheries often have high bycatch rates of threatened marine species such as sea turtles, whales, dolphins, and ..