: : Prologue to IMBB No. 5 : :
Here is a bit of a teaser from Gil in New Zealand and his Malaysian friend. As soon as he got wind of IMBB No. 5, he immediately sent me some photos of great catch from the sea. So, in the run up to IMBB No. 5, here is a read on great things to eat from the sea, albeit uncooked ones.
Red Snapper are in good numbers here and the most common recreation sport and table fish. Snappers are part of the Sea Bream family and NZ snapper is : Chrysophyrus
auratus. ‘Ikan Merah’ is also part of the sea Bream family. Snapper fillet are about
NZ$20 to $23 per/kg (x $2.25 for RM$!!!!)
The ‘funny’ one is Oreo Dory or commonly known as John Dory.A delicate fish and a welcome catch to any fisherman. The fable is that black ‘thumb’ mark on it is John The Baptist’s thumb mark when feeding the hungry 5 thousands ( or was it three?) in the Bible.That’s why it’s called John Dory/ JD for short.
New Zealand manages its ocean resources very seriously. There is strict Quota allocated for commercial catch each year. Recreation fishing have size &/ Bag limit for snappers and most other seafood like Hapuka(grouper), Blue Cod, Flounder (pomfret) scallops, oysters, crayfish and the big buggers like Marlin, Swordfish and Tuna. Snapper can only be taken at 27cm length from tip of nose to the V of the tail. Any under this 27cm must be thrown back into the sea.Bag limit is 9 per person, per day. Any undersizes are illegal subject to hefty fines, confiscation of Boat and vehicles involved by the Crown. We can usually catch a good feed of snappers 1/2 to 1 hour from the Central Auckland either from the shore or in a boat. That big pile of snappers was half a day fishing on my boat during summer.Unlike in most Asian countries, 2 -4 hours (100km) stretch from the coast , the sea is basically ‘dead’ due to overfishing & pollution.
The Clean Green image of NZ comes with alot of funds for Resource Management Acts and volunteers Fisheries Officers. Although the laws do get broken by a small section of the population, the majority of Kiwis have this mentality drilled-in since young to respect and treasures the natural resources of the land, sea & birdlife.
Also, Claudine is the very first person to submit her recipe as she was going to be away for the weekend. So, as an appetizer to the event, here it is : a marvelous and tasty dish called Bouillabaisse. Enjoy the read! Also, don’t forget to pop by tomorrow! There will be a lot of people trying out different recipes of fish. So, join us tomorrow!
Cheerio!