George Kehayias*, Pavlos Koutra and Aristotelis Pournos
The present paper deals with the evaluation of the technical performance and operational effectiveness of a commercial LED lamp buoy (PSL2), an autonomous photovoltaic-battery-LED lamp raft (APVR) and the traditional raft (TR) used in purse seine fishing. The three lamp buoys were tested for seven months in real fishing conditions in Lake Trichonis (Greece) targeting the dominant species (Atherina boyeri). Laboratory measurements concerning the sufficient light emission and the battery charging-discharging efficiency, showed the very good performance of PSL2 and APVR. APVR presented the highest effectiveness on the fish attraction, resulting in greater overall catch sizes of A. boyeri by 62.6 and 66.3% in comparison to PSL2 and TR respectively. No remarkable differences in the specimens’ size caught around the three lamp rafts were found. The green light of APVR, instead of the white in PSL2 and TR, assumed to have been the reason of its greater performance, possibly due to higher attraction of zooplankton which is the main prey of A. boyeri. Instead, the higher light intensity of PSL2 in comparison to TR did not result to greater fish attraction. The study points the need for further field experimentation with various light colors in purse seine fishery.
