The fish tech space is growing, and fast. It was just a few years back that industry folks and nonprofits alike were trying to get their heads around what end-to-end traceability might look like and which technologies might be used to facilitate it. Since then, we’ve seen technologies such as blockchain, electronic monitoring, and machine learning make a splash in the seafood and ocean conservation spaces. With the exploding number of companies and initiatives, it can be hard to keep up.
The good news is that new platforms and tools are emerging to track fish tech initiatives, provide education and training, and curate resources. The Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT), for example, is providing a global alliance for knowledge exchange and action to promote legal and sustainable fisheries through improved transparency in seafood supply chains. They are also developing an online resource and learning platform to provide education and knowledge sharing that transforms how seafood industry supply chains collect and transmit data about the fish they source and sell.
For those of us trying to keep up with the proliferation of new fish tech projects, our friend and colleague, Kate Wing—founder of the databranch— has done us all a huge favor by sharing her exhaustive fish+tech spreadsheet. This list has information about a global array of wild fisheries tech projects, what they do, where they’re located, and how to get in touch with the teams. From robots to electronic monitoring, it’s all here. Check out the list here, and get in touch with Kate if you know of additional projects that should be on the list.
Fish+tech focused panels and entire conferences, such as SAFET, are also helping bring the latest gadgets and gizmos in fisheries to a wider practitioner audience. Behind the scenes, we also know there are several new initiatives and platforms that will be launched around World Ocean Day on June 8th. We’ll be keeping track and reporting back on what’s new, so stay tuned.
Published May 29, 2019
