By aiming at discerning, high-income consumers, just as the venison industry had successfully done, the fishing industry could achieve a unique branded position and could maintain a premium price in the market place. Investment in science, technology, and marketing would be crucial in achieving this, Dr West said. Dr West said GNS acoustic seismologists, who had years of experience working with the oil exploration industry, were developing extremely sensitive and cost-effective technologies aimed at locating and identifying commercial fish species. This technology will provide a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly stock management regime. They want an assurance that fish species will survive any fishing regime.
Sustainability is perhaps the key aspect of the brand images the seafood industry is creating.
Those brands create and maintain the industry's premium market prices. Fishing companies could reduce costs and lift productivity by aligning intelligent map-making with acoustical fish detection technology, Dr West said. Another technology that GNS was developing would help companies prove that a fish product came from a particular bay or stretch of ocean. It has worked for the wine industry, and it can work for New Zealand seafood. Dr West said GNS was also developing a technology to locate bones in fish fillets at production line speeds.