top of page
Back to top
Solar Fishermen Lights
A set of solar lights that were designed and custom made for the fishing villages in the north eastern part of India for their daily usage as well as for fishing purposes.
Fishing with Lights
In the North Eastern parts of India there is a tradition of catching fish with the help of light. During the night time a light sourced is placed close to the surface of the water that attract the fish towards the surface. This fishes are then caught as part of their livelihood by the villagers here.
Need for a much efficient system
The people usually rely on cheap, off the counter light that run of AA batteries to run the lights. These get depleted very quickly which adds to the cost and also was not a good sustainable way of life causing high financial strain on the villagers as well as unwanted electric waste.
Loktak Lake and its beauty
For tackling this problem we had approached the fishermen that live around the Loktak lake in Manipur, India. The visuals that awaited us were quite stunning. It was a new way of life to us. The whole village lives on small patches of floating land mass that are anchored to the floor so that it does not float away and the fishing were done in small circles that they create with the floating vegetation they find around the lake.
Constrains
After careful research and analysis we had to consider a lot of parameters before we could jump to a solution. The first and foremost being durability and longevity. Financial viability to the user was also something to consider.
Solution 1
Through some brainstorming sessions with finishing experts, we figured out that fishes are most susceptible to be attracted to blue color of spectrum. We devised a waterproof blue light that can be submerged into the water to attract more fish. Along with this an array of other lights were also developed that helps the fishermen with their other day to day activities and livelihood.
Solutions 2
All the lights were waterproof and the battery pack which run the lights were solar charged in a solar station erected in the village.. The back up would vary depending on the light used but would be able to sustain the fishermen for 2 days of usage. There were also inbuild battery lights developed in case the lights had to be mounted to a pole and hung on top of the water.
Testing
Rigorous testing were done to improve the lights and figure out the right battery pack for the job which would balance cost and effectiveness.
High Capacity Light
A high capacity spread light was also developed that would help catch bigger fishes that live in the deeper parts of the lake.
In build battery powered light
The in build battery light was developed in case of emergencies where there is less sunlight to charge the main battery pack. This can also act as a backup in case multiple parties had to fish together.
Introducing the lights to the Fishermen
The lights were introduced to the whole village. They were very satisfied with the metal body design and the sturdy nature of the lights. There were concerns raised on how the bigger lights might affect the ecosystem of the lake with overfishing with too many fishermen adopting this lights
Solar station setup
With the lack of infrastructure around these villages it was difficult to setup a proper solar station but we managed to find a suitable space. There were very less houses with electric connections and we got a feeling that some of these lights might also be used as light source around the house during night.
Battery station
The battery station had to be secure enough from rain and other external entities. Such a place was hard to find in this floating village but we had to work with what we got.
Lights in action
The lights were put to work and the fishermen found a liking towards the in built batter light as they did not have to worry with the extra wiring and the additional battery pack.
Blue light hit!
The fishermen were quite surprised with the blue light and found it very effective. It also had long cable to connect it with the battery and also was very efficient, giving long battery backups.
Witnessing the design in action
It was quite exiting for me to see the designs in action.
bottom of page