According to the Council of Agriculture (COA), fish lure lights consume a large part of the fuel carried by deep sea fishing boats for the entire trip, which lead to the increase in cost for such operations. With the help of the National Cheng Kung University's  Industry-Academia Agricultural Technological Cooperation Program, Dayu Optoelectronics can now produce LED fish lure lights. Moreover, the company also receives support from the COA in developing LED fishing lamp for deep sea squids. The said LED lights already set sail on Jan. 5 to have its first sea-trial in the southwest Atlantic fishing grounds located just north of the Falkland Islands for a period of 6 months.

Through the Agricultural Industry Technology Program, the newly developed LED fishing lamp will eventually replace traditional lighting

    The COA pointed out that Dayu Optoelectronics was admitted into the Agricultural Industry Technology Program with the support of the Council, and has already successfully developed pacific saury lure lights in the first stage (from 2010 to 2012) of the program. To further take advantage of the LED application for deep sea squid fishing, the company has been given the green light by the Council to proceed with the program’s second stage (from 2014 to 2016). Once again Dayu will apply NCKU’s LED Underwater Optical Transmission technology in the development of the aforementioned product. Its success will not only promise a significant reduction on fuel consumption but also guarantee fishermen’s safety and wellbeing. Furthermore, as environmental protection is becoming increasingly important, the employment of green-energy lighting will present a positive image for Taiwan’s deep-sea fishery industry.

    The COA further stated that back in 2014, Dayu Optoelectronics had already conducted field tests and collected data on the optical characteristics of both LED and traditional lighting sources. By combining those data with experiences shared by fishing boat captains, the company went on to develop a LED lure light source exclusively for fishing squids. The lights are arranged on both sides of a vessel in an intermittent configuration. It feeds on AC 440V high voltage electricity commonly used by modern ships. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the light sets, electrical power sources must be manufactured meeting a strict anti-salt, anti-rust, and sea water proof standard. It is estimated to reduce up to 15% fuel consumption per trip, which means that NTD 3 million may be saved per vessel and in turn save up to NTD 320 million  worth of fuel expense for the entire squid fishing industry. In order to observe the LED lights' effectiveness in operation, sea-trials are scheduled for 2015 and 2016 to test the lights for their applicability, effectiveness and fuel consumption while analyzing their service life, ROI ratio, and catch quantity.

Driving innovative R&D forward and expand technological potential for the industry

    The COA stressed that since the Agricultural Industry Technology Program's inception in 2007, the result shows that for every NTD 1 that the government subsidizes would lead to NTD 6.05 worth of direct investment by companies, which in turn would create a production value of NTD 3.23. The COA vows to continue with the program and to implement the industrialization of technological developments in order to successfully create a new agricultural value chain for Taiwan.