Glow Rope
WHAT IS GLOW ROPE?
Glow rope acts as a visual stimuli, alerting non-target wildlife species of the presence of fishing gear and thus deterring wildlife from interacting with gear and becoming entangled. Glow rope consists of polypropylene combined with a phosphor that glows bright yellow-green when underwater, in wavelengths that can be detected by large cetaceans and making it highly visible for other non-target wildlife such as seabirds and turtles.
The rope glows for 48 hours following activation and can be seen by human eyes for a distance of 18m. The glowing property means that gear is visible at night and in deep, low-light waters. Glow rope has been suggested as a bycatch mitigation technique for cetaceans and sea turtles
CURRENT RESEARCH & USE
Glow rope has not yet been widely tested nor proven to be effective at mitigating against bycatch. Current research is focusing on the challenge of maintaining the glow property under repeated setting and hauling.
This page was last updated on 12.02.21.
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