Expert Details


Want to know what seafood is the best to eat to avoid over exploitation of wild fish stocks? Ask Claudette who is a sustainable seafood expert.

Name: Claudette Rechtorik
Title: UNSW
Organisation: Sydney Aquarium Conservation Fund

Description:

Claudette is an expert in sustainable seafood and is currently undertaking post-graduate research on prawn aquaculture at UNSW. She became interested in aquaculture as a means to combat over exploitation of wild fish stocks as well as the huge problem of bycatch, which is the capture of unwanted or untargeted species. Claudette believes that by choosing our seafood wisely, we can make a huge difference in our oceans.
 

   Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Bureau of Rural Sciences http://www.daff.gov.au/brs/fisheries-marine

Sydney Aquarium Conservation Fund http://www.sydneyaquarium.com.au/NonProfit/NON050.asp

Questions and Answers

Questions Posted by: Clairvoyant
Date: 11 June 2008

Qn: I've just started fishing with my partner, around the Botany areas. We thought this would be a better alternative to buying it off the supermarket. no packaging etc... Are we wrong? Are we impacting the marine ecosystem even more then we are trying to sustain it?

Ans: Catching your own fish is probably the most sustainable of all options provided you abide by size and catch limits of the relevant species. If it’s too small let it go and when you have what you need call it a day. The biggest problem with rec fishers is littering and overreaching catch limits.

So if all that sounds fine – happy fishing!

Questions Posted by: Hellen
Date: 11 June 2008

Qn: What seafood should we avoid eating to prevent over-exploitation of certain species? Also, do you have any tips for selecting the best fish to purchase at the fish market/supermarket, and how to avoid the old or poor quality produce?

Ans: Hi Hellen, There are many species that we can very easily avoid – the following are classified as overfished by the Bureau of Rural Science: southern bluefin tuna, bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, swordfish, any form of shark (may also be called flake), orange roughy (may also be labelled as deep sea perch), eastern gemfish, eastern redfish, silver trevally, southern scallops (they’re also a benthic species and are notorious for being trawled with much damage as a result). You can find the latest Fisheries Status report on the BRS website www.brs.gov.au.

Safer options are fast growing, shallow species such as flathead, bream, whiting, leatherjacket, snapper, barramundi (both wild and farmed are good options), squid, and aquacultured prawns (these are relatively environmentally friendly compared to wild caught species although the use of bycatch reduction devices by some fishers is helping. Unfortunately at the marketplace you can’t tell the good fishers from the bad!).

At the very least buying Australian over imported product allows for some form of regulation.

Finding a good monger that is busy and thus has high turnover is likely to have fresher produce as are the markets. I’d be avoiding the supermarkets for seafood. Also, Oceanwatch Australia is a great org to get more info on what’s happening in the world of fishing www.oceanwatch.org.au

Questions Posted by: Melissa
Date: 5 June 2008

Qn: In what ways could the general public, coastcare groups etc be making a real positive impact, in your field of work/expertise?

Ans: Wow - thanks for all your questions. Which field of work do you mean? I'm assuming your referring to my field of aquaculture?

Briefly, I think a good place to start for all people who are interested in caring for coasts, and the critters that live in it is to get informed about their seafood. A good place to start is the most recent Fisheries Status report that can be found at www.brs.gov.au.

Another good organisation to check out is OceanWatch and find out more about how they're working with commercial fisheries for a more sustainable future.

When purchasing seafood they can:
a) not buy shark;
b) avoid the overfished species listed in the BRS report;
c) stick to Australian seafood;
d) avoid buying deep species as they tend to take a long time to grow and reproduce;
e) and depending on the species and the form of farming look at some Australian farmed options.
Qn: If you could change one thing tomorrow about the way our coastal systems and resources are currently managed, what would that be?

Ans: If I could change things tomorrow I'd expand sanctuary (no-takes) zones within marine parks so that they encompassed at least 50% of marine parks. The science done so far shows that our sanctuary zones are not large enough to provide any benefits in conserving current marine populations nor providing a source to supplement these populations.
Qn: What are your major environmental concerns for our coastal and marine environments in the short and long term.

Ans: My major environmental concerns are littering and pollution, overfishing, and the extreme over-exploitation of sharks for their fins.








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