Technology has brought more effectiveness to the world of fishing in the form of sonar and GPS, tools that let fishermen catch more fish and return to the same reefs again and again. Yet the basic of fishing itself remains much as it was thousands of years ago -- find fish, kill fish, sell, trade and/or eat. Technology has improved accuracy, with sometimes devastating results, but it hasn't fundamentally altered our relationship to fish.

Compare this to the way technology has transformed how we interact with music or films or contacting our friends and family. Living in the Bay Area, I am often struck by the vast gap between the archaic world of fisheries and the innovation happening all around me in biotech, software, and communications. One Laptop per Child is launching and you still can't buy a fishing license online in California.

In looking for ways to bring light to the dark cave of fisheries, I was struck by the ideas in Kevin Kelly's recent essay "Better Than Free." [note: this links to his general blog site so you may have to scroll down] He names eight values that people will pay for even in this day and age of abundant free files and online generics; I think many of these have great applicability to fish conservation dilemmas. For example, Patronage. Here's Kevin's description:

It is my belief that audiences WANT to pay creators. Fans like to reward artists, musicians, authors and the like with the tokens of their appreciation, because it allows them to connect. But they will only pay if it is very easy to do, a reasonable amount, and they feel certain the money will directly benefit the creators. 

You see this in the rise of farmer's markets, of people buying fish directly off the docks and chefs listing not only the origin but the boat that caught the catch of the day. It's one of the easiest ways for fishermen to raise the value of their catch and escape the pressure of processors to choose volume over careful selection. But direct sale isn't an option for every boat or every port, so where else to look to add value?

Perhaps at Immediacy and Personalization. What if there were better online information exchanges so that chefs could know what a fisherman was bringing in, even see the fish on camera, and make a bid to buy it right away. What if you could have a service that tested your fish and created a diet for you, then provided the right fish to your door? These ideas wouldn't be cheap, especially for ports far from an airport or train, but they're not impossible. As consumers become more informed and demand better fish, there are opportunities to truly target that demand in a way that benefits fishermen and fish populations. I imagine the folks at the Seafood Summit in Barcelona last week had some good ideas along this line. It's high time to move fishing into the 21st century.