In between my official duties, we were having a chat about what they did for a living.
The trio were involved in catching crayfish and farming kingfish.
They said just about all of their cray catch is sold to China for extremely good prices.
But they've noticed a fall in the number of crays in recent years, and attribute this to more stress on the fishery and a possible warming in ocean temperatures, perhaps as a result of climate change.
On the other hand, Kingfish, a large predatory species, are thriving.
Farming these fish, the men said, has led to a huge new industry in South Australia, whereby we can supply farmed fish to local, interstate and international markets at a sustainable rate.
These old salts of the sea, who've spent their lives fishing the oceans, believe that if the world doesn't want to run out of seafood, then we must learn to farm it.
Personally I have absolutely no problem in eating farmed fish.
However, flip the telly onto almost any cooking show and the superstar chef will often tell you that "wild is better".
There seems to be an emerging snobbery about eating farmed fish.
While there is no doubt that certain fish farming can cause environmental impacts such as pollution, entanglement issues with other marine life, and even sometimes diseases in the fish, surely taking the pressure off wild species is a good thing?
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Department recently found that 52 per cent of the world's fisheries are fully exploited and in danger of collapse.
And it's not just their fish themselves at threat from extinction.
Just think about all the other living things in the ocean which rely on that food source, for example, marine mammals, sharks and sea birds.
Some fisheries have a shocking 80 per cent by-catch, so most of what the fisheries drag up from the ocean is discarded.
What a terrible waste.
So, surely harvesting farmed fish is the only way nature is every going to fulfil the growing needs of an ever expanding world population?
If the old dogs of the sea think it's the way to go, surely we can defy the food snobs and tuck into some farmed fish?
Comments
I've got some ideas
May 6 01:43 pm1. Every one stop eating wild fish for, say, one year and see what happens to the fish stocks.
2. Pass a law that makes it illegal to take any notice of anything "Chefs" say or do. Penalties to include: Compulsory Maccas (gasp); 1 month on Pritikin diet and/or 1 week listening to my mother in law' theories on food (deadly).
Melody Horrill, I think you should investigate aquaculture (farmed fish) before you start praising the people who take the fish from the ocean and now want to farm fish! We already have farmed salmon around the world and in Australia? Any animal that is kept in a corral confinement whether its fish or cows are suspect to diseases, pathogens etc.Antibiotics are given to these animals. Fish living in waters together also have diseases and worms. I suggest you read up on bacterial fish pathogens.
May 18 10:10 pm"Farmed" fish are fed a diet of what? Could it be fish meal pellets? If that is so, from where does the fish meal come? It is time to examine the effects of pilchard fishing on the natural environment, and honestly assess the "sustainability" of aquaculture.
May 19 02:54 pm