Fish Story

In ichthyophagous Japan, good fishing techniques are a matter of national importance. So the Japanese Government asked Dr. Tadayoshi Sasaki, of Tokyo's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, to work out a commercial way of using light to catch more fish. Last week Dr. Sasaki described a fiendishly clever system of luring fish to their doom.

At some distance offshore, Dr. Sasaki places a roughly V-shaped net. Inside the net, under water, he hangs a sealed-beam headlight bulb fed with current from a storage battery, the beam pointing out of the net. He hangs other bulbs, giving diffused light, in a long line toward the shore.

After nightfall, Dr. Sasaki turns on the lights. The fish, which are very fond of light, think it's a party--or maybe a whole series of parties. They gather in swarms, cavorting around each light. When enough fish have gathered, Dr. Sasaki turns off the light nearest shore.

The fish, not yet ready for the party to stop, move to the next light. After a while Dr. Sasaki douses that light too. The fish move on, in a growing throng, like tipplers shunted from bar to bar by a series of closing hours. At last the only remaining light is the fatally attractive beam that beckons from inside the net. The fish swim in and Dr. Sasaki hauls up his net. In the cold light of dawn, the light-minded fish are headed for broiling (yaki zakana).

One species, the austere grey mullet, seems uninterested in parties. But Dr. Sasaki is not discouraged. He is planning to try colored lights, in hopes that the stepped-up allure will attract the grey mullet too.

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