Nets that are lit by ultraviolet lights deter turtles but catch just as many fish as unlit nets.
Vulnerable sea-turtle species are often caught unintentionally in nets set out by fisheries (pictured). Many commercial fish species cannot see ultraviolet light, but several types of sea turtle can, so a team of researchers led by John Wang at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu tested whether visual cues stopped turtles from being trapped. The group placed ultraviolet lights every 5 metres along net floatlines and compared catches to those from unlit nets. The lights reduced the capture rate of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) by 40% and, in separate studies in a commercial fishery, did not significantly alter the value or number of marketable fish caught.
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Hazard lights for turtles. Nature 500, 8 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/500008a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/500008a
