Set nets are used by fisheries globally and are the mainstay gear of Mediterranean small-scale fishing vessels, which represent > 80% of the region’s fleet. Gear types such as bottom-set trammel nets and gillnets, thus have important socioeconomic significance. They are also used close to the coast, resulting in bycatch in foraging and inter-nesting areas utilised by Mediterranean sea turtles, with high rates of mortality. A third of sharks and batoids (skates and rays) are under threat of extinction, and, in the Mediterranean, over half have regional IUCN Red List status assessments that are more concerning than their global assessments. Bycatch in set nets contribute to continued population declines. There are also costs to fishers of hauling and handling these non-target species. Toward resolving this conflict, green LED lights (©NetLight) were trialled on trammel nets in a small-scale fishing fleet in Cyprus, to test their effectiveness in reducing bycatch of vulnerable species. Toward improving economic and environmental sustainability of the devices, a flashing duty cycle was incorporated in their design. NetLights reduced sea turtle and batoid bycatch by 42% and 50%, respectively, while no effect of NetLights was detected on commercially targeted (pandora and rabbitfish) or commercially threatening invasive alien species (pufferfish and lionfish). Sea turtle catch per unit effort was greater in nets that had greater proportion of daylight soaking, whether NetLights were present or not. No marine mammals, sharks or seabirds were caught. The study supports other findings globally that net illumination can reduce bycatch of threatened marine vertebrates. However, the observed reductions in bycatch were only weakly driven by NetLights and more trials with greater capacity are advised.

定置网在全球渔业中使用，是地中海小型渔船的主要渔具，占该地区船队的 80% 以上。因此，底部设置的拉网和刺网等齿轮类型具有重要的社会经济意义。它们还在靠近海岸的地方使用，导致地中海海龟在觅食和筑巢区域出现兼捕，死亡率很高。三分之一的鲨鱼和蝠鲼（鳐鱼和鳐鱼）面临灭绝的威胁，在地中海，超过一半的鲨鱼和蝠鲼的区域性世界自然保护联盟红色名录状态评估比全球评估更令人担忧。固定网的兼捕导致种群数量持续下降。渔民拖运和处理这些非目标物种也会产生成本。为了解决这一冲突，塞浦路斯的一个小规模捕鱼船队在金属网上试用了绿色 LED 灯 (©NetLight)，以测试其在减少脆弱物种兼捕方面的有效性。为了提高设备的经济和环境可持续性，其设计中纳入了闪烁占空比。NetLights 分别将海龟和鳐鱼兼捕减少了 42% 和 50%，但未检测到 NetLights 对商业目标（潘多拉鱼和兔鱼）或具有商业威胁的外来入侵物种（河豚和狮子鱼）有影响。无论是否存在网灯，在日光浸泡比例较大的网中，每单位努力捕获的海龟数量都较多。没有捕获任何海洋哺乳动物、鲨鱼或海鸟。该研究支持了全球范围内的其他发现，即净照明可以减少受威胁海洋脊椎动物的兼捕。然而，所观察到的兼捕减少仅是由 NetLights 微弱推动的，建议进行更多容量更大的试验。