Mareterram
Episode: Delish Food Bowl Special
Title: Mareterram
Broadcast: December 2nd 2017
Presenter: Russell Blaikie
We generally think of the Gascoyne to be sprawling farms on the rich red range lands, serving up livestock and oodles of fruit and veg but what we can find off shores of our great state can supply a whole range of world class produce.
- This regions leading seafood company is without doubt Mareterram, Shark Bays largest license holder. This area is abundant with King and Tiger prawns, with average catches of 2000 tonnes per year. Russ gets the chance to speak to James Clement, the Executive Director at Mareterram.
- The prawn fishery has been going since about 1962 and it’s been a managed fishery since the 1960’s as well. This means the department of fisheries issued a certain amount of licenses that couldn’t be exceeded and only those licenses could fish in the fishery, so it’s a well understood, well managed fishery with a lot of longevity and good sustainability.
- The fishery has recently acquired an MSC certification (Marine Stewardship Council), which is a global independent body that certifies sustainable fisheries. This is incredibly important as it goes to show Mareterram look after the fish and the resource is not only being managed well now but it will also be there in the future for all people to enjoy.
- A very small part of the bait is fished and the total fishery is not in excess of 40,000 sq. km and in one year probably only about 4,000 sq. km are fished.
- It’s the perfect environment in Shark Bay- you’ve got those deep gulfs to the south, some of the biggest seagrass meadows in the world. The larvae stage is here, they can grow up in a warm area, full off food and lots of protection. As they grow they move out into the bay.
- In these areas the waters have a higher salinity, which seasons the prawns. There’s no doubt you can taste this in the prawns and that’s why the Mareterram catch phrase is ’Seasoned by the Sea!’
- It takes just 30 seconds from catching the prawns to sort them and snap freeze them on deck, which ensures maximum freshness for customers- not only here in Australia but also overseas.
- When seafood is this fresh, simple cooking is the best treatment. Boiling them in a bucket of seawater is perfect!
This episode of Delish was presented to you by The Gascoyne Food Council
W: https://www.gascoynefood.com.au
AS SEEN ON