A photovoltaic-battery-LED lamp raft design for purse seine fishery: Application in a large Mediterranean lake

This paper describes the construction of a novel lamp raft for the purse seine fishery and its evaluation in real conditions for 14 days during a six-month period in a freshwater ecosystem (Lake Trichonis, Greece). A simple, but durable and inexpensive design was constructed comprising a LED lamp producing green light, powered by a 12 V battery which is charged by a photovoltaic panel to make the device autonomous concerning its electric power needs. The new lamp raft showed very good technical performance in the field and was found to be more effective at attracting fish than traditional lamp rafts, resulting in higher catch rates for the target fish species (Atherina boyeri). The increase in catch varied between 33.3% and 157.1%, with an overall increase of 67.3%. This excellent performance, along with simplicity, durability, and the zero operational cost, makes this raft an interesting candidate to replace the traditional lamp rafts used in purse seine fishery not only in the particular lake for which it was designed, but also in other freshwater and marine ecosystems around the world.