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Cumbria's Wild Oceans
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Location: Blogs Martins thoughts... |
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| Posted by: admin |
Tuesday, September 09, 2008 |
As part of fish fortnight, I went to one of the Wild Ocean events, organised by Catherine Hooper from Cumbria Wildlife Trust, to hopefully fill some of my knowledge gap about fishing and it's sustainability, but with the added incentive of a fish buffet prepared by local chef Nick Martin.
The evening started off with a short presentation by Catherine who explained about overfishing – around 75% of the worlds fish stocks are either in decline of being fished to their limits. About bycatch – upto a quarter of any catch is thrown back in dead or dying, and about habitat damage from the fishing method – such as beam trawling and scallop dredging which plough up the seabed killing corals and sponges for example.
Nick then took centre stage and served up six fish dishes that are fished sustainably and could be eaten in preference to other species that are currently not, such as Atlantic Cod, Haddock, Hake and Halibut. So what was on Nick’s list? Red Snapper, Pollack, Gurnard, Rope grown mussels, Red Mullet and Coley.
The red snapper was served in the form of a quiche with roast pepper, this was my least favourite dish, but the Pollack in a light beer batter served with perfect chips was one of my favourites. We even got a recipe card for that one.
The baked Gurnard served with roast vegetables was not bad, but Nicks recipe for the mussels was perfect – a coconut, coriander, lime, garlic and lemon grass sauce.
I liked the Cajun-spiced Red Mullet, the fish was perfectly cooked, beautifully moist, but I wasn’t so keen on the Coley, although the herb crust and pesto was a good combination for this white fish.
I walked away armed with some good information, a better knowledge, a full stomach and a pocket "good fish guide". This guide produced by www.fishonline.org, (and downloadable) uses a simple colour code for over 150 types of fish. Green means ok, orange means caution, red means avoid.
When we produce our next major update I will be doing a "focus on fish" article, looking at some of my favourite fish and learning what I can and cannot eat. - Martin
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