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The idea of a networked virtual ocean is kind of cool, though. Although, I would take the concept a lot further, to make it into a full-fledged game in a "Sims" sort of way. Players could build their own little slices of ocean from a set of "raw materials," similar to the way you build a house from scratch in the Sims, but in this case the raw materials would be coral species, sponges, rock shelfs, caves, kelp for growing underwater forests, sunken wrecks, sand bars, mangrove plants for saltwater marshlands, basically all of the things needed to build an underwater environment.
Depending on the type of environment you build -- kelp forest, coral reef, backwater marsh, open-water pelagic, tide pool, and so on, the program would give you a selection of logical "locations" in which to place your slice of the sea into the online virtual ocean. For instance, if you developed a tropical coral reef, you could place it somewhere in the Caribbean. If you developed a kelp forest, perhaps Monterey or Catalina. You get the idea.
Animals would be restricted to swimming to machines that have environments that will support their particular needs -- so a tropical triggerfish wouldn't be able to swim to an arctic environment, for instance.
BUT -- the player wouldn't be limited to just sitting around in his own little environment and waiting for other people's fish to swim into it. The player would be free to explore the virtual ocean and check out the total ocean environment that people around the world have created. You'd be able to check out anyone else's "slice of the sea," and anyone else would be able to check out yours and perhaps co-participate in its development.
Creatures from one user's environment could freely interact with creatures from another user's -- if they're of the same species, they could breed. Predator/prey relationships would also exist -- your fish could eat or be eaten by someone else's. (Although certain rules would have to be established so that a rogue player couldn't create an environment consisting completely of sharks and barracudas that eat everything else around them).
Each player's "slice of the sea" would connect seamlessly with its adjacent ones. Eventually, given enough players, the virtual ocean could become huge. Frequent updates or commercial add-ons to the program would add new species and/or environments to use.
I know I won't see anything like that anytime soon. But it's fun to dream....
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