The Monday Rant

Happy Monday, happy folk! Something that I'm incredibly passionate about is fisheries. The fruit of the sea is very damn tasty and makes me excited in an almost unhealthy manner. Having grown up by the ocean in WA (oops, did I just admit I'm from WA!?), I've spent most of my life there diving, surfing fishing and spear fishing vis a vie I've got a massive soft spot for our aquatic friends.

Thus it pissed me off to no end to learn that the Japanese successfully opposed the ban of export on Bluefin tuna at the UN's Conservation of International Trade of Endangered Species summit last week. Ok, this is all a bit dry, but the skinny of things is that we're running out of fish! The tuna may head the way of the mighty Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon or the Orange Roughy (never heard of that? we'll we've all eaten it, and Aus/NZ are largely responsible for their overfishing) unless something drastic is done.

I'm not talking about throwing a brick through your fishmonger's window, or crashing your tinny into a pesky Asian fishing vessel invading our waters - but what I do implore is the support our endangered stocks by choosing not to buy these fish, and encouraging your friends to do the same. It's easy to forget that while we eat farmed terrestrial meats almost exclusively,we eat a great deal of wild fish; most of whom can't be farmed.

Species to avoid then, if you want to grind out on our slippery friends with a free conscience: Flake (yeah, that's shark), Halibut, Hake, Sole, Tuna, Orange Roughy, Cod, wild Salmon and skate (N.b - these are just species that appear on the Aus market - and listed by Greenpeace as being in the "red" zone of extreme danger, other species are in trouble too!).

Enjoy your supper, and if you happen to come across a Patagonian Tooth fish, don't eat that either - but at least take a pic, I'd love to check it out!