Ideaz

I've been thinking a lot about a problem that we have in Vizag, something you see every time you go to the fish market. It's an idea I'm calling AquaTrace.

You know the feeling, when you're looking at a perfect fillet of fish, but you feel like you're taking a gamble. Is it really fresh from today's catch, or has it been sitting on ice for multiple days? Was it caught by a local fisherman, trying to make an honest living, or by someone cutting corners? There's just no way to tell. That's the gap. We live by the sea but have a total lack of trust in the seafood supply chain.

This matters to me because I’ve seen the hard work our local fishermen put in, only to be squeezed by the middlemen. I also want to know whether the food I'm feeding my family is safe and ethically sourced. Does it not feel wrong that in a place so famous for its seafood, we have so little connection to it?

AquaTrace would fix this. Imagine a simple app where a fisherman logs his catch right on the boat. This creates a digital record that can't be tampered with. That’s the techy part. Every step, from there to the icebox and to the shop, is tracked.

For us, the benefit is simple: you’d see a QR code on the fish you're about to buy. You scan it with your phone and instantly see a profile of the fisherman, the exact time and place it was caught, and how it was handled after.

This would be a game-changer. We'd get fresher, safer fish. Restaurants could proudly prove the quality of their ingredients. But most importantly, it would give our local, sustainable fishermen the credit and fair price they deserve, helping to protect our marine ecosystem for the long run.