In addition to lowering overall energy usage, LED lighting technology also helps to improve sustainability by preventing wildlife in several ways. To safeguard the many different kinds of sea turtles that call Alabama, USA, home, turtle-friendly LED lighting has just been installed throughout the Gulf Coast. Additionally, Bangor University in the UK discovered that by affixing LED lights to large holes in nets, non-target species may be guided to escape, greatly reducing bycatch.
Over five million tourists visit Alabama each year, drawn by its stunning beaches along the Gulf Coast. Additionally, the shore is home to a number of sea turtle species that are listed as endangered worldwide. Sea turtle eggs and hatchlings are especially at risk because of the high volume of visitors throughout the year.
Because newborn hatchlings depend on moonlight and stars to guide them toward the sea, artificial lighting sometimes confuses them, therefore the city of Gulf Shores decided it was imperative to improve the lighting along the streets and boardwalks next to the beach with turtle-friendly alternatives.
Therefore, the project's landscape architects chose luminaires from Luminis, which provide an optional turtle-friendly amber LED. Certain wavelengths of amber LEDs have been shown to have no effect on sea turtles.
According to a Bangor University research that was published in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, bycatch may be decreased when using nets with LED lights to catch fish in deeper seas, such as those between 45 and 95 meters.
Non-target animals, such as seabirds and endangered species, are often harmed by bycatch. When LEDs are attached to nets, the light they generate helps non-target fish escape the net while simultaneously drawing in the targeted fish. SafetyNet Technologies, a UK-based firm, provided the light utilized in the research.
