what the?

[ronnien]

just came back from the iga store down the road & there is 2 under sized yellow sweetlip (they r calling them moses perch) for sale, how can these b legally sold. got me bet?

[jtpython]

Bi Product Of Trawlers

[BARRAkid]

Bi Product Of Trawlers

Exactly my mate ownes 3 trawlers and you see some off the fish that gets pulled out of the boats when they unload

[ffejsmada]

Would they be farmed fish????????

[ronnien]

just spoke 2 fisheries here in t'ville he told me that if caught in commonwealth waters it's alright(gulf). but is concerned about different name & is sending a couple of officers down now.

[tunaticer]

How is the gulf "commonwealth"waters? I would have thought it would simply be joint Qld and NT waters?

Jack.

[ronnien]

jack, i dont know mate but he also said that a wholesale seafood place here imported barramundi cod from nt & sold here & is legal, but here in qld they r protected.

ron.

[johnny roger]

yeah its a bit of a worry all these fish rules etc. but what about the prawns etc...they are being imported from vietnam and thailand, and are much cheaper. but i dont reckon they taste any good. not lile good ole aussie gulf prawns. ok, you pay a little more but i guess its the same thing as the clothes that are on the shelves these days as well. they are all made in china, dam sight cheaper, but not as good as good ole aussie fabric. where do you stop?
John

[Lucky_Phill]

Ron,

I believe there is currently a study being undertaken to determine the extent of " inncorrect" labeling of fish for the retail market. This will eventually allow all fish species to be identified as an individual fish:-

eg:- Rosey Job fish are now called ... king snapper.. !!

They should be labeled correctly. The study has to determine whether a fish gets identified by it's correct ( Fisheries ID ) name or a common name, but there are so many common names for different areas and fish.

There has been legislation introduced into Queensland some time ago to have fish labeling improved. Some times it is not the fault of the retailer, it is the wholesaler wrongly naming fish.. maybe on purpose, maybe not !!!!!

eg:- Coral Cod are ID'd as Coral Trout.....

John.....

The prawn industry has taken a huge turn in recent times, particularly here in Qld with the stopping of imported ' green ' ( raw ) prawns from overseas markets, due to high bacteria levels ( virus's ). Also the cooked prawn imports have been reduced by 75% over the last 2 years, also due to lack of quality control.

Australian farms prawns are a great product with many farms now exporting their product, which in turn, makes any product we recieve here, dearer.

Gulf ( wild ) prawns are good chewing, but like all areas where trawlers operate, by-catch is an issue. I do believe that the gulf by-catch is far less than the east coast trawl fishery. Fisheries are constantly trying to develop ways and means of reducing the by-catch but the best way is to stop trawling altogether. This can only happen when the Prawn Farming industry becomes big enough to handle the demand. I also doubt this will ever happen, but you never know. !!

AS for the clothes etc...... we are in a Global Market and therefore we buy and sell our product according the " best price ". IF I am a prawn farmer and I can get $30/ kg for my prawns overseas, I will sell it there and not take $20 /kg here. Further, if I am a retailer who sells a product that I can get 50% cheaper from an overseas source, then I will buy that product. After all, I am in business and being in business means making money to feed the family, pay the mortgage etc etc.

At the end of the day we all have choices... Ron made the right choice in phoning the fisheries about his concerns regarding the ' sweetlip ' , others have the choice to buy imported prawns or Aussie stuff and similar to clothing, fishing tackle etc. It is good to have choice.... !!!!!

Cheers Phill

[ronnien]

spoke 2 the fisheries not long ago he told me that the fish are legal(just), also told them that they r not mosses perch & 2 correctly name them. i would have let them go (on the small side).

ron.

[RayDeR]

Ron,

I believe there is currently a study being undertaken to determine the extent of " inncorrect" labeling of fish for the retail market. This will eventually allow all fish species to be identified as an individual fish:-

eg:- Rosey Job fish are now called ... king snapper.. !!

They should be labeled correctly. The study has to determine whether a fish gets identified by it's correct ( Fisheries ID ) name or a common name, but there are so many common names for different areas and fish.

There has been legislation introduced into Queensland some time ago to have fish labeling improved. Some times it is not the fault of the retailer, it is the wholesaler wrongly naming fish.. maybe on purpose, maybe not !!!!!

eg:- Coral Cod are ID'd as Coral Trout.....

Cheers Phill

G'day Phill!

What chance have we got for retail stores to label fish correctly when a local fishing magazine in this month's edition has a picture labelled "parrot" and the expert in the article calls them parrot then admits in a bracket they are actually venus tuskfish?

It is interesting parrot have a minimum of 25cm and a bag limit of 5 while tusk fish have minumum of 30cm a bag limit of 6. (from memory).

I have recently caught my first tuskfish which I was told was a parrot but was identified in this forum as tuskfish.

Ray de R

[choppa]

i think its fair to say that phill is on the right track with having the "choice" to buy imported or not,,, and i understand that when your in business the "choice" to make an extra buck to pay the bills is always on the list

profit afterall is not a dirty word,,,,,

profiteering is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, especially when the "choice" is underhandably placed in the resellers control,,,,

simple test,,,, when your next in the deli section of your local supermarket,,, compare the average of aussie seafood product opposed to imported

then picture yourself in a bind,,, you've got a barbie,,, or a hankering for a feed of prawns,,,squid,,,or any other species,,, you run into the supermarket and "voila",,,, 80% importered on average,,,versus 20% australian

then add the reason behind this post,,, foul play comes into effect due to it being "named" wrongly,,, makes you wonder why a small percentage of people "hate" eating one variety of fish,,, but when there offered the challange of taste testing the same meat caught elsewhere,, they state that its better

i use supermarket deli's in the above due to the percentage and volume of seafood that they sell and buy,,, (clothing and other essentials can be added,,, but thats a different scenario)

me... i can honestly say that the deli manager cringes when he see's me making a bee-line for his section,,,,, mainly i buy tigers or kings,,,, and only for bait,,,, i've never purchased and eaten deli prawns,,,,, but at 15-20 bucks a kilo,,, its cheaper than buying 2-3 packets of bait prawns from the servo when i have chopjr in tow,, and they only last one trip out,,,

i asked the above manager to explain what a ""black bream"" was ,,, his answer had me in fits,,,, seeing that it was a luderick,,, and the same goes for flake,,, whiting,,,and "coral fish"

being raised in victoria,,, flake is generally gummy shark,,,, but its definately not ray,,,, whiting, well qld has so many variety's its hard to keep up,, and "coral fish pieces" well that leaves the imagination wondering,,,(what do they do with the left over fillets),,,,

i suppose when you add the vast amount of "imported" species to the mix, and have more of these on show than local product,, the real "choice" is to buy steak,, or is that at risk too??????

choppa

[Cobia Kid]

Its not a good thing to see, i feel moses are a great eating fish and to be distibuted as something with a complety different flavor, just not on!

[Tailortaker]

As stated in the above posts, you cant really blame the supermarkets as a large % of the staff are uneducated dew to the fact it is so hard to find staff that are trained in areas such as seafood. I've constantly seen incorrectly named fish coming in to supermarkets by the wholesalers and sizes that are questionable and as for the imported fish filling the supermarkets it is far to expensive and inconsistant to stock local seafood..
Cheers TT

[rob tranter]

In NSW we already have Truth in Labelling at Supermarkets and Seafood Shops.
They have to label the fish as per Fisheries ID and whether it is Aus or Imported.
Woolies were forever calling a fish Red Snapper and I'm yet to properly ID it.
Now they have to give it it's correct name and Place of Origin.

As for Commonwealth Waters V State Waters

I think it is determined on Distance from shore? Any thing beyond a certain point becomes Federal/Commonwealth., and then further out International?
Otherwise why would Queensland have a different set of Rules and Regs for East Coast fishing and for Gulf Fishing.

Lucky you are up on your fish species ID Ron.

Rob T