The Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative is refining an effort that uses low-powered lasers to create a visual "light fence" that helps night-flying endangered seabirds steer clear of power lines and transmission poles.

Carey Koide, KIUC’s transmission and distribution manager, said in a news release: "This year, we have redesigned the laser controller module to provide us with more reliable on-off cycles and added wireless communications to each unit."

Koide added, "The lasers will be programmed to be on at alternating nights and biologists … will monitor the power lines during the test season."

Last year, KIUC, in collaboration with the Kaua’i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, created the fence by attaching 30 lasers to transmission poles in Eleele.

Flying to land after nightfall, the birds can detect the lasers in the darkness and avoid the lines. Flying into objects are among the top causes of death and injury to seabirds.

The lasers use a narrowly focused green beam of light. Because the beams are parallel to the ground and because the installation is not in designated air space, the lasers do not pose a hazard to aircraft or passers-by, according to the news release.

Thirty laser units were recently installed on poles at coffee fields in Eleele and testing will run through mid-December.

In an emailed statement, Koide said, "After the series of testing is completed, we will evaluate lessons learned to incorporate any improvements. Another series of lasers with additional improvements will be constructed and deployed next season."

Native seabird species, including the endangered Hawaiian petrel and threatened Newell’s shearwater, are vulnerable to hitting poles and power lines because they fly in the dark, returning to their burrows after dusk and fly back out to sea before dawn.

Also, more than 1,000 bird-diverting devices called "firefly" units will be installed to hang from power lines. The devices contain reflectors and glow-in-the-dark features visible to birds in low-light conditions.