Aussie Fish - Part III. What you CAN eat!

Sorry for the delay in posting the final part of Aussie Fish - my excuse is that I've been inconsolable with grief since I've discovered that Tuna is not on the Green for Go Ahead and Gobble It Up list.....

As you may remember, my source of information is Australia's Sustainable Seafood Guide from the Australian Marine Conservation Society. There's no doubt that this is a confusing issue and the guide is really helpful, but as Blogger Karen pointed out to me in an email last week:

"it seems it would have been easier to write a short list of what we can eat. I think the lack of standardised nomenclature for fish species adds to the confusion. I heard that it is usual for fish at Sydney Markets to be sold and have not yet been classified/ named, that shows how much we do not know about sea creatures and that we could be unwittingly eat rare species."

Here is the 'what we can eat' list - or as it is termed in the Guide - the 'Better Choice'.

Australian Salmon 2 species considered: Eastern Australian slamon, WA Salmon

Blue Swimmer Crab Also called: Crab, sand crab, bluey, blue manta crab.

Bream (pictured) 5 Species considered: Black, Yellow-fin, pikey, fry-pan, tarwhine.

Calamari, Cuttlefish, Octopus, Squid Species include: northern, southern, pharaoh's, maori, pale, arrow (gould's), pencil, red ocean.

Flathead

King George Whiting Also called: black whiting, south australian whiting, spotted whiting

Leatherjacket Also called: ocean jacket, seine boat jacket, silver flounder, chinaman (ooh - is that sexist or racist or both?), yellow jacket, triggerfish, butterfish

Mullet As in Cut. Seriously though -it's also called blue-tail, fan-tail, flicker, umping, nana, sand and yellow-eye.

Mulloway Also called: Butterfish, jewfish, king jewfish, kingfish, river kingfish.

Trevally

Western Rock Lobster Also called Western Austrlaian crayfish, Western Cray

Whiting 7 species considered: sand, eastern school, western school, stout (winter), trumpeter, western trumpeter, yellowfin.

Yellow Tail Kingfish Also called: kingfish, tasmanian yellowtail, kingie, yellowtail

Abalone 2 species considered: greenlip - main species, blacklip

Blue Mussel Also called: mussel

Crayfish (marron, redclaw, yabby) 3 species considered: Marron, redclaw, yabby

Oysters Species include: sydney rock, flat, milky, blacklip