Digital tools are as diverse as the reasons to use them. They can be used at all levels of the distribution chain, helping to ensure more integrated and more traceable sourcing mechanisms. Digital tools can be used by fishermen to report their catch and ensure traceability, and thereby ease the process of collecting and communicating data about the product to the final customer. With the opportunities offered by on-line auctions and sales platforms, they can also provide new entry points to multiple markets. In today’s marketplace, customers source both food and information differently, and digital tools are providing unique opportunities for fishermen to inform directly and create new types of relationships with their customers

Quick Recognition (QR) codes are barcode tags that contain multiple information on a product and redirect automatically to a webpage when “flashed” with a smartphone or tablet. Using QR codes to foster traceability and communicate on quality. They let consumers know who caught the fish, when it was caught and the method of harvesting. This new way of raising awareness can trigger curiosity and increased demand for local products, thereby helping to revive local fisheries. 

Auction systems are considered to be the best method to create better transparency in fish trading as they reflect the real cost and price of fish supply and demand. Open bidding allows the market to determine the real value of the fish. In turn, it encourages fishers to act according to market signals, to only catch what the market wants and to reduce waste.

Iceland has one of the most advanced fresh marketing systems in the world.  They have an advanced electronic auction system that facilitates wholesale marketing. The electronic auction provides transparency and fairness to all participants –buyers and sellers. Electronic sales offer the possibility of trade employing a variety of options for bidding. The auctions may operate a closed network, a distributed open network or even on a remote server over the internet and buyers may still bid by voice with the auctioneer recording their offer or do so whilst hundreds of kilometres from the place of sale using the internet. The adoption of an electronic system provides openness, fairness and transparency where the market is not restricted to a single physical location.

Authorized auction users are connected to the Internet and can buy the fish online in real time during the live sales operations in the auction rooms. They can view information on prices, the quality of the catch on sale (place of origin, vessel, size, calibre, species) and are thus in the ideal condition to decide an online purchase, paying the transaction by credit card. The auction operations are made easier by a webcam. Due to the removal of physical and geographical barriers for the fish auction operations, it is possible to extend the market beyond local operators, expanding it domestically and internationally, which increases the competitiveness potential in the sector.