Fishing boats as Pearl Harbor warning pickets

Could Admiral Kimmel have used fishing boats as offshore pickets before Pearl Harbor?

Yes, but the Navy would first have needed political funding for a warning measure it had already considered.

The United States could have used civilian fishing boats as pickets before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The idea was within American planning and technical ability. The obstacle was obtaining money from politicians for a precaution whose value would become clearest only after an attack. Inexpensive layers of early warning are difficult to fund before a crisis proves their need.