While we all enjoy the taste of fresh Australian seafood, not many of us are up to the task of catching our own fish.

 

We have farmers to farm for us and we have commercial fishermen to fish for us, and that’s the way most of us like it. The key difference is that while farmers own the land they farm, all Australian citizens own the fish in the ocean that surrounds our continent.

 

So what’s significant about shared ownership of our seafood?

Because all Australians own our marine resources, we have both rights and responsibilities as to the custodianship – and catching – of our seafood resources. We can all have a say in how these resources are caught and we all have a responsibility to protect the sustainability of our species.

 

Most Australians want our seafood resources to be handled with appropriate responsibility and care. We want to enjoy the taste of fresh seafood, knowing that it is safely and sustainably sourced. As a consumer (and lover) of prawns, I want to know that the prawn supply is sustainable and also that harm has been minimised to the seabed floor in the catching of those prawns. Once I’ve stopped to think about it, I want to know that all the little seahorses that might inadvertently be scooped up with prawns are bounced off and safely returned to the ocean floor. If a Bream or Flathead is caught for my dinner, I want to know that no additional fish were inadvertently harmed in the catching… by being thrown back with a hook still in their mouth or worse still, dead fish returned to the ocean.

 

The value of sustainable wild-caught commercial fishing enterprises

To a greater extent than most of us, commercial fishermen have a vested interest in protecting our marine resources and deploying best practice fishing standards to ensure sustainability of our species and of the fishing industry as a whole. Sustainable wild-caught commercial fishing is widely and wisely regulated, adhering to well-researched, rigorous policies and procedures that I trust and respect.

 

Wild-caught sustainable commercial fishing is to seafood, what organic farming is to food. Just as I put my trust in an organic farmer, I also trust wild-caught commercial fishing over any other methods.

 

Have you stopped to think about it too?

 

If you’d like to know more, join the community at www.oceanwatch.org.au

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Letter from Diana, customer of Yamba Wild

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Photo Credit: Cassie Matias. unsplash.com/@cass4504