Unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with a fish attraction lamp to assist the purse seine operations

An unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with a fish attraction lamp was developed to assist in the nighttime operations of a Japanese purse seine fishery. The USV weighs about 15 kg, is equipped with a 200 W underwater light-emitting diode (LED), and can be radio-controlled to move on the sea surface. The purse seiner shoots a net to surround the lighting boat to catch fish gathered by fish attraction lamps. The USV was deployed on the sea surface from the purse seiner during the net-hauling operation and replaced the lighting boat to continue fish attraction after shooting the net. The time required for each operation using the USV and conventional lighting boat operations was compared, and it was found that the time required for the lighting boat for fish attraction after shooting the net was reduced by about 10 min per haul when the USV was used. On the other hand, the time required by the purse seiner to shoot and haul the net and the catch amount did not change. The USV can contribute to time savings in operation and safety improvements in the purse seine fishery.