Pavlov's Fish

Can you train an ocean fish to swim home in time to be caught and turned into seafood?

That's the hope of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and research scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachussets. NOAA has awarded $270,000 for a research grant to see if the concept works.

Woods Hole scientists are working with black sea bass, a depleted Atlantic Coast species found from Florida to New England. Their idea is to feed the fish only after a distinctive tone sounds, get them used to associating the sound with food, then release the fish to the wild and see how many swim back to a feeding station when the tone sounds again.

If the Pavlovian training works, the ultimate idea is to rear the fish in aquaculture centers while training them to associate food with the sound of a distinctive tone. They fish would be released to the wild, and return to the same feeding station for supplemental food each time they hear the dinner bell.

The fish, presumably, would also be drawn to the sound when it's time to catch them and bring them to market.

"It sounds crazy, but it's real," Simon Miner, a research assistant at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole told the Associated Press.

First, researchers played the tone for 20 seconds, three times a day, for about two weeks, he said. Afterward, whenever the tone sounded, "you have remote-control fish. You hit that button, and they go into that area, and they wait patiently."

It remains to be seen how long the memory will last, or how many will be caught in the wild before making it to market.

In the meantime, if you're looking for sustainable seafood right now, check our Seafood Watch pocket guides for recommendations. You'll find choices that are good for a meal, and protect ocean wildlife and the ecosystems they need for survival.

Photos courtesy Associated Press/Steve Senne.