20 December 2019
Christmas is a great time to celebrate with family and friends….and to eat Australian seafood.
We have the best seafood in the world and I encourage all Tasmanians, and Australians, to support our world-leading seafood industry this Christmas and buy Australian seafood.
It is that time of year when hundreds of thousands of Australian households are buying seafood ready for the Christmas table.
Hands-down the most popular seafood of choice is fresh prawns, which take out the number one spot – with fresh prawn sales increasing four-fold at Christmas time.
In position number two is fresh salmon, and that of course includes Tasmanian salmon, in third place is fresh tuna, fourth is white fish and fifth are scallops, lobster and crab. Oysters are also rising up that list.
Australia’s appetite for seafood has been on the increase, with more than 341,000 tonnes of seafood consumed across the country in 2016-17, up from 248,000 tonnes in 2001-02.
In fact, Australians eat an average of 140 serves of seafood every year.
That’s no surprise given our island country offers the best quality, sustainable and safest seafood in the world, not to mention that we catch more than 600 species of seafood – providing something for every taste.
That’s definitely the case here in Tasmania, where we have some of the best oysters, mussels, salmon, blue-eye, trout, rock lobster and so much more.
Tasmania also leads the nation in employment with 11,647 direct and indirect jobs in the industry, demonstrating its importance to so many across the state.
But sadly, there has been an increase in consumption of imported seafood, up from 59 per cent to 66 per cent over from 2001-02 to 2016-17.
When Aussie families buy seafood sourced from Australian managed fisheries, they’re supporting best-practice fisheries management that keeps our oceans well stocked for future generations of seafood lovers.
I encourage all Australians ensure they have the best seafood on their Christmas table, support their local industry and ask for Aussie seafood when they prepare for Christmas this year.