Scales Favour New Snapper
Newcastle Herald
Saturday April 15, 2000
SLIGHTLY suntanned but excellent eating is the verdict on Australia's first offshore farmed snapper, grown in the ocean off Port Stephens.
Fish from the first harvest went on sale yesterday at Wickham's Commercial Fishermen's Co-op, selling for the same price as those caught in the wild: $15 a kilo.
Sales staff said there was some buyer resistance to the dark pink-coloured skin, with consumers choosing the familiar bright pink fish first.
But according to Co-op manager Bill Pearce: `People will soon get used to the colour.'
For fish farmer Dan Liszka, the results of a three-year trial have been so good that the next $5million investment to full-scale commercial operation seems assured.
`The feedback that we have been getting from the chefs is they love the firm white texture and more delicate flavour,' he said.
`But they were all curious about the colour.'
The cause of the darker hue was the change in feeding habits, he said.
Snapper were normally bottom feeders, foraging on the sea bed for crustaceans and fish.
But in a farm situation they swam closer to the surface to get a twice-daily specially formulated fish feed.
Swimming in water penetrated by the sun caused their skin to darken or `melanise', Mr Liszka said.
Mr Liszka, a director of Pisces Marine Aquaculture, said the company's operation was the first offshore snapper farm in Australia and was modelled on the Tasmanian salmon industry.
Snapper sold in NSW was mainly imported from New Zealand, with the NSW catch declining from 750 tonnes to 300 tonnes annually.
The farmed variety had the advantage of being fresher and more consistent in quality.
Mr Liszka said one area of concern had been how many of the fish would survive in farm conditions. But they had thrived in the pristine waters off Port Stephens with an exceptionally good 97% survival rate.
Pisces Marine Aquaculture operates a hatchery at Brooms Head on the far-north coast of NSW.
The first batch of fingerlings were trucked from the hatchery to Port Stephens and transferred to a 25-metre wide, 10-metre deep fish pen near Cabbage Tree Island. A second pen was recently added to the 14ha lease.
The hungry young juveniles were initially fed six times a day, Mr Liszka said. They grew from 18g to 350g in 15 months, about half the time they would take to reach a marketable size in the wild.
Mr Liszka said predators of the human or marine variety had not been a problem for the operation so far. But just in case, a security vessel is moored near the pens to keep watch around the clock.
HAPPY SNAPPER
(Scientific name: Pagrus Auratus)
n Member of the Seabream family.
n Natural colour from golden pink to reddish, pale white underneath.
n Size: 1-10kg normally, but can grow to 20kg in the wild.
n Found around offshore and inshore reefs and harbours, bays, off rocks, rockwalls and beaches.
n Juveniles tend to stay above 50 metres, while adults will swim down to 200 metres.
n Best bait include fresh
slimey mackerel fillets and other cut baits, squid, pilchards,
livebaits, prawns.
n Snapper run hard and deep when hooked and put up a tough fight. Characteristic double shake of the head before running.
n Australian record: 18.4kg
n Firm white flesh, ideal for eating.
© 2000 Newcastle Herald
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