Celebrating the Southern Local Seafood Sector @ Festival of the Sea
Still not sure what to do this upcoming Easter long weekend? Why not head down to the beautiful coastal town of Albany for the yearly ‘Festival of the Sea’! This family fun day celebrates the contribution of the local seafood sector to not only the seaside community but towards the WA economy.
The 2018 Festival of the Sea is celebrating its 10 years – that is 10 years of promoting the Southern Fisheries.
Hosted by the Albany Maritime Foundation, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the event, which has grown immeasurably in both size and significance over the years.
Jenny Rickerby, event coordinator of the Festival of the Sea said that the event, held on Easter Saturday (31 March) from 10am-5pm, is important as it promotes local Albany produce to the wider community.
“The event will include a variety of food stalls, cooking demonstrations and entertainment – focused on fresh, sustainable WA seafood, suitable for all ages.”
Build your own boat race! Always good fun!
“And we can’t forget the infamous ‘build your own boat race’! A crowd favourite, this competition sees teams design and construct their own boats (from supplied materials) who then race in the marina, finishing the day off with a lot of laughter and enjoyment. It is a great community experience.”
Speaking to Mike Westerberg he said that along with his cousin Tony, they will be selling fresh Herring burgers (depending on their avaliability) to promote the oily, often-misrepresented fish often used as bait.
“Herring is a flavoursome species – some people like the taste and others not so much. The fillets will be soaked in milk, overnight, to smooth the flavour so it is not as prominent.”
“We will be pan frying Herring with ghee (a butter originated from India that doesn’t burn) and placing it in a bun with lemon juice and rémoulade (a condiment invited in France that is usually mayonnaise based).”
“Herring is an incredible fish to eat and the community is missing out by not eating them! It’s such a versatile species – you can do so much with them – fresh, smoked,” said Mr Westerberg.
Great Southern Seafoods will be there promoting the local industry and selling prawn skewers.
Margaret Soumelidis from Great Southern Seafoods will also be attending this years festivities, selling prawn skewers.
“We enjoy participating at this festival as it gives us the opportunity to not only promote our business but showcase to the crowds our great local seafood and produce sourced from this region.” “Plus it is an immensely enjoyable day,” she said.
Concluding, Jenny said that the event, that was originally organised to promote the seafood industry, caters to seafood lovers of all ages, not only through food stalls but education via cooking demonstrations.
2018 festival of the sea will include a fish filleting demonstration.
“Fisherman Graeme from Great Southern Seafoods will demonstrate to the crowds how to fillet a fish .”
“Patrons also have the opportunity to watch celebrity chef Don Hancey, sponsored by WAFIC, joining in on the seafood celebrations by hosting a series of demonstrations on how to get the best out of local WA seafood.”
“Don Hancey will complete 3 sessions throughout the day cooking with crustaceans, salmon, sardines and herring and reef fish. His performances will be a mixture of entertainment and education,” she said.
WAFIC have proudly sponsored this event since its inception in 2008 and will be there this year with a display to help educate the community about our sustainable fisheries.
We look forward to celebrating our WA fisheries! Head to www.boatshed.org.au for further details on the event.