Open Season for Wild Barra

Whilst there maybe controversy of how a fish was named Barramundi; most commonly thought to be an aboriginal name for fish with big scales, the fact still remains it’s an Australian name for a fish inhabitant in Australia. So it’s highly questionable when you see an Asian Lates Calcarifer species imported into Australia and advertised and named on menus as ‘Wild Barramundi’.

Retailers in Queensland must declare the country of origin of all seafood in their refrigerated display. However just last year the Northern Territory bought in a new rule that restaurant must now declare the same on their menu which has sparked a movement to have this regulation widened to the whole of Australia to enable consumers to make informative buying decisions.

A pilot program was initiated in the Cairns regions in 2008 by the Queensland Seafood Industry Association to brand our seafood and urge the consumer to ask ‘Is it Local’ and insist in ‘Queensland Catch’. This campaign is about to be further launched throughout the state to bring awareness to our local wild caught seafood.

February marks the opening of the season of wild caught Barramundi and a good wet season has expedited their journey early down the rivers and into the estuaries along with a number of other very good quality fish. One such fish is the underrated Threadfin which is otherwise (and redundantly) known as Blue and King Salmon. These fish make excellent and economic eating. So you should now start to see in the marketplace, some fabulous fresh local wild caught Barramundi and their mates.