Lights on fishing nets save turtles and dolphins

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, by the University of Exeter and Peruvian conservation organisation ProDelphinus, 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”.