Fishing just got a whole lot more entertaining thanks to the idea of replacing bait with lights that act like disco balls attracting fish looking for a good time.
The Guardian explains:
“An unusual technique for catching scallops that was stumbled upon accidentally by scientists could potentially reduce some of the damage caused to our seabeds by fishing.
The marine scientist Dr. Rob Enever and his team at Fishtek Marine, a fisheries consultancy based in Devon, designed small underwater ‘potlights’ to help protect fish stocks by replacing the need to use fish to bait crab and lobster pots.
The lights were supposed to attract crabs into the pots. But quite unexpectedly, scallops, which can have up to 200 eyes, were more attracted to the LED lights. ‘It’s like a scallop disco – illuminate the trap and they come in. It’s astonishing that no one else has discovered this before. It’s quite an exciting find,’ said Enever.”
And it begs the question: could light based fishing replace traditional fishing across the board? Or would it only work on certain species?!
Greatest. Idea. Ever. 
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