YFW Value - Catch 22

[MAH 449]

I was at the Adelaide Central Market on Saturday. I always look at the fish prices. It makes my mind spin at the prices for fish e.g. filleted Coorong Mullet for $50kg. Who can afford to eat our local fish? Certainly not someone on average wages, particularly when you compare it to alternative protein like a free range for $6.50kg.

But what really caught my eye were local YFW, really nice big plump YFW. They were being sold for $18kg whole! If comparing to the filleted Coorong Mullet at $50kg, you are assuming a yield of 36%, i.e. you are only recovering 360gms of fillets for every 1kg of whole fish (although this is not a perfect comparison as it doesn't include the labour cost of processing the fish).

So why is YFW so undervalued?

It's a Catch 22. When it's undervalued, it's a resource at risk of being depleted because there is not enough interest to ensure it's managed properly.  But if it's much more valued, it's a resource at risk of being depleted because there is a good chance of over fishing by people wanting to maximise as much money as quickly as possible.

I worry a lot about the future for our local stocks of YFW.

[Des 838]

Oversupply !!! at present. 

Winter is when the professionals catch the most tonnage. 

I had covered it in this post:  

 

 

Graphs of the monthly catch rates.