When friends and family gather at Christmas in Australia often seafood is a favourite on the menu. Find out what local fish is sustainable to serve and why we need to support our local fisheries.
Meet Shane Geary. He’s been in the fishing industry for over 22 years. And is the seafood & operations manager of the Coffs Harbour Fishermen’s Co-op. In his time in the industry Shane has had the opportunity to attend many seafood conferences around Australia and this year has recently graduated from the Rural Training Initiatives National Seafood Industry Leadership Program where the group worked hard on promoting our sustainable fisheries.
Our Living Coast had the opportunity to interview Shane and ask about the local fishing industry and what is sustainable for our consumption.
The good news is, according to Shane, all our fisheries are sustainable and operate under an Environmental Impact Study. This study is independently assessed by the government using the Environmental Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act. The environmental expectations demanded by this act continually rise and the fishing industry strives to meet all its environmental responsibilities, ensuring the supply of sustainable seafood.
Shane’s message is eat locally caught seafood – it is sustainable and responsibly fished. Australia is also recognised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation as having the 2nd best fishery practices in the world.
So what is good for the Christmas table this year?
If you’re talking fish, snapper is always very palatable and very plentiful in our Region but most consumers are looking for our fresh cooked crustaceans such as Balmain bugs, lobster and our iconic Coffs Harbour Eastern King prawn.
As an industry representative does Shane promote sustainable fishing?
Most definantly. Shane’s definition of sustainable fishing is you’re always improving your fishing methods. You can’t just take everything; you have to have certain regulations and management in place. To minimise your impact on the environment, preservation of the breeding stock and juvenile stock is essential so the fish have a chance to breed once or twice in its life cycle.
Our rock lobster fishery is probably one of the prime examples, cited by Shane, of a well managed fishery. It’s a quota managed fishery, there’s a maximum size to protect breeding stock and a minimum size to protect stock that hasn’t spawned. Shane said, “I’ve been in the industry for over 22 year now and the last two lobster seasons have been the best I’ve seen (since) I’ve been here…and a lot of that comes back to a well-managed fishery.
Fishers getting the right information
Shane thinks it’s crucial to have the right people out working with the fishers, such as credible fishery scientists and organizations like Ocean Watch who do a fantastic job working and building relationships with fishermen and the local community.
For this reason Shane urges you to ask your local fisherman and fishmonger to find out what is in season, sustainable and tasty. The co-op has been operating for over 60 years. For them it’s not just about sustainable fishing but it is an issue also of economic sustainability where they want to be here for many years to come. “Go to the source” is his advice, “Don’t rely on guides that may or may not be relevant to our region.”
In Shane’s experience so often what is overlooked is the need to get out and look after our breeding grounds, our nurseries, our habitats and our rivers. If more money was pushed in to looking after our waterways and habitats our fish stocks would benefit.
Why is it important to fish sustainably?
This is a big issue and it relates to food security. Food security refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it (wikipedia).
“You need it there for the future. The world is going to consume more food in the next 50 years than it has year to date. That’s why it’s important to make sure we’re managing our fisheries properly…so we don’t lose that protein source.”
“But it is also just as important that fishermen have access to your seafood resource.” Shane believes there has to be solid scientific evidence before closing off access to marine protected areas.
Professor Ray Hillborn is in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. He makes a case that fishing is the most sustainable protein source and asks the question should I be eating fish? Check out his talk ‘The State of all Fisheries part III’ on You Tube.
How can locals make sure they are eating sustainable fish?
Eat Australian Seafood better still eat seasonal caught local seafood.
“Get to know your local product. You know there’s lots of wonderful seafood out there.”
Shane is also working with chefs to do the same thing. He is forging the relationships to interact with the fisherman and the fishmongers to find out what is seasonal, and how it’s caught.
Recently he was involved in the 100 Mile food challenge where the Co-op donated the seafood that went to the winning dish for our region.
“Go and see the fishmongers and talk about the wonderful seafood in this local area. Get to know how your fish is caught and where your fish is coming from.”
“To me our fishermen are our conservationists of the ocean. We really do need to work with their expertise to gain food security.”
And finally we asked Shane his favourite seafood dish
I love all fresh Local seafood.
“Ocean leatherjacket is one of my favourites. I know it’s only caught seasonally. It’s very cheap and it’s there in abundance. I love it. Just pan fry it in a little bit of flour or egg and breadcrumb and we have it for our morning tea sitting on the floor at the co-op. Very nice. One of my favourite.”
He also talks about the iconic Coffs Harbour Eastern King prawn the flavour of the prawn seems to me to be supreme.
Conclusion
Australia currently imports about 75% of its seafood requirement’s which we have no say if it’s sustainable or not so Shanes message is clear “Get out and eat local seafood and if you can’t eat local seafood eat Australian seafood at least twice a week – it’s your healthy food source.”
