The decks of distant-water fishing vessels were once dominated by the intense light and high temperatures of halogen lamps (especially metal halide lamps, or MH). This fish-attracting device, which dominated the industry for nearly half a century, leveraged the phototaxis of fish to promote the development of light- attracted fishing. However, its inherent shortcomings left fishermen both reliant on it and frustrated. This continued until the advent of LED fish-attracting lamps, particularly COB ( chip on board ) lamps. The in-depth application of technology has completely rewritten the lighting logic of marine fishing, turning " high efficiency, energy saving and environmental protection " from slogans into reality.
1. The Dilemma of the Halogen Lamp Era: The "Cost of Fishing" Fishermen Have to Bear
The core of optical fishing is to attract fish by exploiting their sensitivity to visible light in the 400-750nm range. However, the halogen and metal halide lamps that dominated the 20th century made this process fraught with compromises. As representative light sources of the electrification era, while more efficient than earlier kerosene and incandescent lamps, they suffered from multiple flaws that directly impacted the pain points of fisheries production.
The conflict between energy consumption and cost is paramount. The total power of a large ocean- going squid fishing vessel's fish-attracting lights can reach 300-400kW, requiring over a hundred 2000W metal halide lamps per vessel. These lights consume over 60% of the vessel's power generation system load. Data from the Zhejiang Marine Fisheries Research Institute shows that a squid fishing vessel using conventional metal halide lamps consumes 120 tons of fuel over a four- month operation, while a similar vessel equipped with LED fish-attracting lights consumes only 39 tons, representing a 67.5% energy saving. A retrofit case study from Foshan Lighting is even more compelling: replacing 3000W metal halide lamps with 1000W LEDs saved a single vessel over 2 million yuan in annual fuel costs and reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 1,550 tons. Furthermore, metal halide lamps offer a low efficiency of only 70-90 lumens per watt, and their 360-degree illumination means only a quarter of the light effectively illuminates the sea surface, resulting in extremely low actual utilization.
Fishermen are particularly concerned about safety and durability shortcomings. Metal halide lamps contain mercury, which can directly pollute the ocean if broken. This is the core reason the Minamata Treaty mandates a ban on marine metal halide lamps starting in 2023. Their glass casings break at sea in a turbulent environment, with a breakage rate as high as 30% per year. They also take 5-15 minutes to start up and must cool down before operation, severely impacting operational efficiency. Lifespan is also a significant shortcoming - metal halide lamps have an average lifespan of only around 2,300 hours, requiring replacement after approximately 15 months. LED fish-attracting lamps, on the other hand, can last over 36,000 hours, more than 15 times longer. Furthermore, the 34% UV output of metal halide lamps can burn fishermen's skin and eyes, and their severe flickering can disturb schools of fish.
The inherent shortcomings of lighting performance directly limit fish catches. Metal halide lamps have a fixed spectrum and cannot adapt to the preferences of different fish. For example, squid sensitive to blue light and mackerel sensitive to blue-green light require different lamps, which is cumbersome and costly. Sea trial data from Vip Magazine shows that while the 0.1lx illumination range of a 2kW metal halide lamp at the sea surface extends 10 meters further than a 300W LED lamp, the spectrum decays more rapidly in seawater, and the effective light at a depth of 50 meters is actually weaker than that of an LED lamp.
2. The birth of LED fish attracting lights: Targeted solution to the pain points of traditional light sources
The numerous drawbacks of halogen lamps have spurred the development of LED fish attracting lights. As a fourth-generation lighting technology, LEDs offer inherent advantages over halogen lamps, and from their inception, they have precisely targeted the core needs of fishery production.
The breakthroughs in energy conservation and environmental protection are most evident. LED fish-attracting lamps generally offer a luminous flux of 100-110 lumens per watt (lm/W). Delta's 1200W LED lamp boasts a luminous flux of 159,000 lm, far exceeding the 108,000 lm of traditional 18,000W tungsten filament lamps, achieving an 80% energy saving rate. Sea trials at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are even more compelling: 28 300W COB integrated LED lamps replaced 200 1000W metal halide lamps, directly reducing lighting energy consumption by 70%. The environmental benefits are equally significant – LEDs are mercury-free and UV-free, and a single vessel can reduce annual CO2 emissions by nearly 1,550 tons, equivalent to cleaning 100,000 square meters of ocean.
Operational and safety improvements are equally significant. The LED lights instantly power on, off, and move, perfectly adapting to dynamic maritime operations. Delta products even allow the captain to adjust the light color from within the vessel, eliminating the need for manual lamp replacement. The IP68 -rated waterproof housing and vibration-resistant structure have achieved 18 months of trouble-free operation in field tests in South China Sea fishing grounds, with a failure rate only one-fifth that of traditional metal halide lamps. The directional light emission characteristic increases light utilization to over 85%. Delta products even achieve 100% light projection onto the sea surface, far exceeding the 25% utilization rate of metal halide lamps.
However, early LED fish-attracting lights used discrete LED chips, which still faced bottlenecks. The large number of LED chips resulted in a bulky fixture. A 2700W model weighed 84kg, twice the weight of a COB integrated product of the same power. Furthermore, the scattered light spots created an uneven underwater light field, affecting the fish- attracting effect. Until COB ( Chip on Board ) The integration of technology has enabled LED fish attracting lights to truly achieve a leap in performance.
3. COB technology: The core code that makes LED fish attracting lights "easy to use and durable"
COB (Chip on Board) The technology directly encapsulates multiple LED chips on the same substrate to form an integrated light-emitting surface, which perfectly solves the shortcomings of early LED fish attracting lights and becomes the core engine of its technological upgrade.
In terms of lighting performance, COB LEDs A breakthrough in " strong and uniform " lighting has been achieved. Sea trials in the Xisha Islands conducted by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated that a 300W LED lamp integrated with multiple COBs achieved a luminous efficacy of 30,000 lumens. Its effective average illumination, illumination distance, and seawater penetration were superior to those of 1000W metal halide lamps. The catch per net doubled from 2,000 jin (approximately 1000 kg) to 4,000 jin (approximately 1000 kg). This advantage stems from the high integration of COBs - the dense arrangement of low-power chips ensures high lighting efficiency while preventing single-point overheating. Suzhou Lilisheng's 300W COB product even achieved a record catch of 90,000 jin (approximately 1000 kg) in a single net during testing in Sanya fishing grounds.
Lighting COB The technology's innovative heat dissipation and stability make it suitable for the extreme marine environment. The high thermal conductivity of the COB substrate, combined with a special heat dissipation design, keeps the surface temperature of the 300W lamp below 60°C, reducing the light decay rate to less than 5% per year, far exceeding that of discrete lamp products. The integrated packaging structure provides better sealing, and Fozhao Technology 's COB products have been trouble-free during their two- year operation in the Southeast Pacific, fully resistant to seawater salinity erosion and huge wave impacts. Delta's 1200W COB fish-attracting lamp uses a built-in full-voltage power supply that can adapt to 220v-440v voltage fluctuations, further improving the reliability of offshore operations.
COB in LED The flexible design also enables " intelligent adaptation. " By adjusting the ratio of 450nm blue light and 520nm green light chips on the COB substrate, researchers have developed a dual-purpose product : emphasizing blue light output for squid fishing and switching to a mixed blue-green spectrum for saury fishing. This allows the lamp to adapt to the needs of different fishing grounds without requiring replacement, saving shipowners significant equipment costs. This spectral tunability ensures that the COB fish-attracting lamp 's effective spectrum closely matches the absorption peak of cephalopods, achieving a light efficiency of over 95%.
4. From Substitution to Leadership: The Industry-Changing Power of COB Fishing Lights
COB LED fish-attracting lights is reshaping the production model of distant-water fishing. Fishermen in the East China Sea squid fishing grounds share a typical sentiment: "I used to have 200 metal halide lamps, which were hot and took up a lot of space, and I had to be very careful when replacing them to prevent breakage. Now, 28 COB LEDs are enough, saving me 150,000 yuan a year in fuel costs and doubling my catch." This change is supported by data: by 2024, over 30% of Zhoushan's 500 distant-water squid fishing vessels had completed the COB LED conversion, resulting in an average annual revenue increase of over 3 million yuan per vessel.
The environmental benefits are equally significant. By replacing metal halide lamps, 400 squid fishing boats in Zhejiang Province are saving 89,100 tons of fuel annually, reducing fuel costs by 640 million yuan, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 230,000 tons. This achievement is highly consistent with the requirements of the "Technical Specification for LED Fish Attracting Lights" ( T/SZSA 014.2-2024 ), which will be implemented in October 2024 and further promote COB technology as the industry standard.
Technological iterations continue. Currently, the R&D team has combined COB technology with intelligent sensors to develop a fish-attracting light that can automatically adjust brightness and spectrum according to water depth and ocean currents. More efficient nano-heat dissipation materials have enabled the COB light source to achieve a luminous efficiency exceeding 150lm/W, and commercial applications are expected to be achieved in 2026. In the future, as COB LEDs With further cost reductions, this technology will also be popularized to small offshore fishing boats, allowing more fishermen to enjoy the benefits brought by technology.
From the smoke and high temperature of halogen lamps to the precision and efficiency of COB LEDs, the evolution of fish attracting lights is a microcosm of the development of fishery technology. The technology not only solves the pain points of traditional lighting, but also High light efficiency, Lighting COB Stability, COB in LED The flexibility of the COB technology redefines the core value of fish attracting lights. For fishermen, this beam of light from COB technology not only illuminates the dark sea, but also the green and efficient future of marine fisheries.