Abstract:
Usually, there are two types of fishing lamp used by bagan fisherman to attract and catch fish: pressured kerosene lamp and electric lamp. The first type is commonly used on the small sized bagan like raft bagan in Pelabuhan Ratu Bay and the second type is used on the large bagan like boat bagan (known as "bagan rambo" in south Sulawesi) in Makassar strait.
The pattern of light intensity distribution of both fishing lamps in the air was almost the same, i.e., is butterfly shaped. The highest intensity was recorded at the angle of 90, i.e., 170 lx for kerosene and 2,700 lx for mercury lamps. The pattern of the underwater light intensity was found different between the bagan. Due to the pattern of light position and lighting power, mercury lamps can illuminate deeper water column than pressured kerosene lamp. At 8m depth The underwater illumination of boat bagan and raft bagan were 47 lx and 0.1 lx, respectively.
The catch of both bagan was dominated by anchovy Stolephorus sp. The others species caught are spotted sardinella Sardinella sirm, scad mackerel Decapterus macrosoma, fringe-scale sardine Sardinella fimbriata, black tipped ponyfish Leiognathus splendens, squid Loligo sp and stripped mackerel Rastreliger kanagurta. Skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis and barred spanis mackerel Scomberomorus commersoni were only caught by boat bagan. It is supposed that boat bagan was operated in the off-shore waters. The average catch per trip of boat bagan was 180 kg whereas for raft bagan was 30 kg.
