Given the returns to modern equipment, many fishermen face economies of scale they cannot afford. To survive, some entrepreneurial fishermen are moving deliberately up-scale. Rather than sell on the mass-market, they create and service a niche market for premium, high-quality fish. To compete in this market, the entrepreneurial fishermen purposely raise the stakes: on internet sales sites, they post their broader reputations as a bond. In doing so, they increase their vulnerability to a dissatisfied customer. In effect, the fisherman creates among his customers a network of overlapping ties that together constitute closed social capital. In the process, he builds a network that lets him more credibly promise high quality – precisely because his buyers can contact each other, learn how he has behaved in the past, and punish him if he reneges.