I have just arrived home from a long weekend away up the coast at Lake Macquarie – one of Australia’s largest coastal lakes and an hours drive from Sydney.   I usually relish the opportunity to escape the big smoke for a few days and in particular look forward to enjoying fresh seafood from the local fisherman co-ops washed down with a glass or two of wine.   I distinctly remember as a kid gorging on piles of sweet school prawns that were fresh off the trawler and as a young adult with limited finances loved how far my money stretched.  As per the nature of a co-op, the store would stock the seafood caught by the local fisherman and hence the fish would be varieties local to the area.

Times have changed and over the last few years the co-ops have been evolving into gleaming tourist traps with high priced, frozen seafood often caught thousands of kilometres away. With government regulations stipulating seafood must be labelled with country of origin it is clear why the majority of the seafood has been frozen as 80% of it is imported.  And the fresh, juicy prawns I used to buy – well they’re from Thailand.

The importation is a reality of life as the demand has to be fueled somehow and this demand is not going to be abated given the enjoyment Australians have of seafood and the Omega 3 benefits of eating seafood.  And increasing quotas in Australian waters taxes already overfished species so not a great solution from a sustainability perspective.

The definition BTW of “sustainable seafood” is seafood from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired.

So how can Australians satisfy their love of fresh seafood but also ensure that their love doesn’t cause ecological damage and put popular species under threat of extinction? (Scaringly reputable research has claimed that if we continue our current behaviours all the world’s fish and seafood species will collapse in 40 years)

• Firstly the recommendation is to buy fish from Australian waters if you can – which is no easy feat – as the Government has quotas in place to manage overfishing of certain species – unlike some other countries which don’t have the accountability
• Say “no thanks” to large, slowing growing fish like Tuna – they take longer to replace themselves and thus are easier to deplete
• Along the same vein say “no thanks” to large predatory fish (eg. Swordfish) as they are usually caught well off shore on long fishing voyages, high on the food chain and require alot of smaller fish to sustain growth (therefore alot of energy required from the ecosystem to grow).
• Buy farmed prawns – despite the country of origin, prawns are often caught via trawling methods which, although there are now technologies in place to avoid this, tend to have collateral damage on other seafood in the ocean
• Buy farmed (aquaculture) seafood
• Check out your country’s recommendations for which fish to avoid and which are OK.  In Australia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society provides a downloadable guide
• Ask questions of your local retailer.  The more questions you ask, and the more people who ask the greater chance is that change can occur.

If we all play our part, maybe, just maybe, my children’s children will also enjoy the thrill of juice running down their arms as they too gorge on piles of sweet succulent prawns.