The UK’s James Dyson Award winner for design this year goes to Scottish art school student Dan Watson, who wants to bring light to fishing nets. His idea looks something like a hockey puck ringed with three small LED lights. The lights keep their charge by harnessing energy from the motion of commercial fishing nets, and they fit nicely in a net’s webbing. Watson spoke to the BBC about his design:
“The rings fit into the ‘cod-end’ of the net – the part where all the fish are kept – and they basically exploit fish behaviour and their physical size to guide some to safety while keeping the other ones in. They act as kind of emergency escape sign.”
Smaller fish, the kind that get “thrown out” because they are unusable, naturally want to swim toward the light and can wiggle their way out of the webbing to safety.
Watson’s design now goes on to compete with 17 others in a world design competition.
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