Hervey Bay Seafood Festival to become Flavours Fraser Coast
One of the founding committee members of the Hervey Bay Seafood Festival said the event was a ‘major casualty’ of the state government’s tough new fishing restrictions.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Hervey Bay Seafood Festival is a “major casualty” of the state government’s fishing restrictions, one of the founding members has said in the wake of the decision to rebrand the iconic event.
Fraser Coast Flavours is set to replace the Hervey Bay Seafood Festival after 21 years.
On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, Fraser Coast Tourism and Events general manager Martin Simons said the time had come to expand on the festival and make it a broader event that would celebrate the cafe culture and beach lifestyle of Hervey Bay.
Mr Simons said seafood would still play a significant role in the festival, but there would be other elements as well, drawing on the success of Maryborough Relish Food & Wine Festival and tailoring it for Hervey Bay.
Elaine Lewthwaite, long-time organiser and committee member for the seafood festival said the new direction was “inevitable”.
“In fact, the original seafood committee strongly supported a name change of the event when Fraser Coast Events agreed to take over the festival following the 2019 festival in Fishermen's Park,” she said.
“The name change away from 100 per cent local seafood is unfortunate but a must to staging a future food event in the city.
“The stark truth is the Hervey Bay Seafood Festival is a major casualty of the Queensland Government’s Sustainable Fisheries Strategy and the proposed removal of commercial fishing access in the Great Sandy Marine Park Review.
“The variety of locally caught seafood
is extremely hard now for restaurants and stallholders to procure and will become even more difficult or non-existent to source in the future, making the unique seafood focus unreachable.
“It is the end of an era for Hervey Bay and the hundreds of volunteers and sponsors, who over the past 21 years proudly showcased a foundation industry in Fishermen's Park, where it began over 150 years go.”
Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said the state government made “no apologies for responsibly managing Queensland’s seafood stocks and building a legacy of sustainable fisheries for our children and grandchildren”.
“It’s why we implemented the 10-year Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy from 2017, safeguarding and future-proofing our state’s fish stocks so they can support in the long-term an industry that creates thousands of jobs for Queenslanders,” he said.
The new vision for the festival would include celebrity chefs offering demonstrations and food preparation tips along with entertainment.
Mr Simons said organisers were not unmindful of the tradition of the seafood festival.
They just sang while she died: Neighbours haunted by religious chants for Elizabeth
For two days the parents of little Elizabeth Struhs and their fellow religious fanatics sang and prayed as she lay dying. Only after her tragic death have neighbours realised what the chants they overheard signified.
Alleged drug trafficker’s bail denied over violent response to son’s pub punch-up
An alleged Sunshine Coast drug trafficker has been denied bail after he was allegedly captured in recorded prison phone calls threatening violence in response to an attack on his son, a court has heard.