Take a look at any very old photograph of bustling harbours in Aberdeen, Peterhead, Fraserburgh or countless other Scottish ports and you will see fishing boats of a bygone era.
The vessels lined up along the quayside were a world apart from the modern trawlers of today.
But it is not just the size and exterior of these harvesters of the sea that has changed – 21st Century boats are equipped with all the gizmos you would expect in the digital age.
North-east skipper Jimmy Buchan, who starred in the BBC’s popular Trawlermen series, has seen many changes in the industry during his lifetime.
He said: “In my youth, in the 1960s, I was fixated on being at the quay edge in Peterhead watching the fleet coming and going with catches of whitefish, herring and mackerel.
“At every opportunity I took a sneak look into the boatyard to watch tradesmen build wooden vessels from the keel up.
“The noise of the caulking chisels, along with the smell of wood and creosote are all childhood memories as new builds paved the way for vessel safety, and improved conditions and catch quality.
“Jump back a further few decades and they were building drift net vessels driven by coal.
“I cannot imagine making the kind of decisions our forefathers made to go from sail into steam-driven vessels, and then from steam to diesel power. These were huge investments into an unknown world to drive efficiencies in the sector.”
When Mr Buchan started his career in the mid-1970s, fishing was a good, lucrative industry to get into.
The fleet was modernising with new vessels that were able to catch more fish, with larger and more powerful engines and more space to hold the catch.
Mr Buchan said: “My first few years at sea on a traditional seine net vessel saw me having to lift, haul and stow ropes as they were being brought back on-board with the winch.
“It was long, hard, tedious work haul after haul, which continued for me until rope bins were invented.
“After that, ropes no longer had to be manhandled – they were stowed into the hull via a hole in the deck.
“This was a huge step forward, where the hard labour was taken out of it but you still had to be on hand to make sure the ropes were stowed well.
“Next came hydraulics and rope reels that could do all the work without any human assistance.
“That was all in the space of about five years.”
These changes gave crew more comfort and safety for their fishing and processing operations, a huge leap forward for work in dangerous weather conditions, while also improving the quality of their catches. Power-assisted cranes and net drums soon became the norm, instead of hauling in fish by hand.
Mr Buchan said: “Innovation just never stops and it is what keeps business competitive and efficient.
“A wheelhouse in the early days was no more than that.
“In a wheelhouse on a modern-day boat, you are lucky if you can find the wheel.
“Technology helps the skipper and crew to navigate, stay safe and map the seabed in detail in ways that could never have been imagined in the past.
“My own vessel, Amity, has 13 computer-assisted pieces of kit to help the skipper in the hunt.”
Communications have changed beyond all recognition from Mr Buchan’s earliest days in the industry, when if there was an emergency or other pressing need to talk to someone onshore, it was done via coastal radio stations.
WhatsApp is now the standard way to stay connected offshore, although the drive for speed and reliability has been at some cost in terms of lost camaraderie over the airwaves.
Mr Buchan said: Now, no-one speaks as most communication is by smart phone or satellite.”
Entertainment at sea has evolved from cards and books to tablets, smartphones and DVDs.
Mr Buchan said: “I look at photographs of my grandfather’s era and see hard-working people who used their skills to go to sea and harvest fish to feed a nation.
“A skipper was in his own way like a computer who could build his internal mind map of the seas, using mother nature and his own intelligence to hunt fish.
“The hunt still continues and it still involves the skill of the skipper, but it is all done so differently from before, with the best computers and software giving a competitive edge over colleagues.
“We cannot afford to turn the clock back as innovation makes life easier and business more competitive.
“Innovation will continue to improve, whether at sea or onshore and we must embrace this.”
Mr Buchan is also noticing the pace of technological change in his role as business manager for the Scottish Seafood Association (SSA), the national representative body for processors.
SSA representatives recently visited Iceland, where they looked at automated technology in the processing sector.
The group visited a number of seafood factories in the south-west of the country which have invested in new technology.
In common with Scotland, Icelandic processors are heavily dependent on migrant labour which is becoming increasingly scarce.
But the quality and performance of new machinery is encouraging more small and medium-sized enterprises to invest in technology and so reduce their dependency on large numbers of skilled filleters.
While there will always be a need for some people on the production line, the automated equipment delivers consistently high-quality fillet products over the duration of the working day.
It also reduces factory floor fatigue among the skilled workforce.
All of the processing companies visited in Iceland were sharply focused on market demand for specific seafood products.
Their production processes were backwards-designed from that end goal.
And with fish quotas unlikely to increase much anytime soon, business growth can only be achieved through greater efficiency.
Key messages for the SSA representatives included a strong commitment by Icelandic firms to eliminating delays between catching and processing, and also their use of gentler fillet handling methods to maintain fish quality.
Accompanying Mr Buchan on the trip were Alan Downie and Kim Adam (Downies of Whitehills), David Cook (International Fish Canners), Patrick Hughes and Donna Fordyce (Seafood Scotland), David and Vicky Gatt (Audacious) Mark Nicoll (Marine Scotland), Neil Sinclair (Scottish Government) and Derek McDonald (Aberdeenshire Council).
Mr Buchan said: “There is much to learn from visits of this type and the Marine Scotland representative was strongly supportive of further learning journeys.
“All processors could, and should, be actively considering investment in automation – particularly while grant support from the EMFF (European Maritme and Fisheroes Fund) is still available.
“We recognise the post-Brexit vision of opportunity for the industry and SSA is fully committed to helping its members fulfil their potential.
“The organisation can count on the support of Iceland visit host Seafood Technologies, an SSA member, to help drive the innovation and investment required in the Scottish seafood processing sector. Our trip was excellent for letting us see automation.”
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All processors could and should be actively considering investment in automation