NT’s holiest of days arrives thanks to National Barramundi Day
THE beloved barra will get its share of the spotlight today as Australians celebrate National Barramundi Day
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BARRAMUNDI will get its share of the spotlight today, with Australians urged to buy and eat their favourite style barra to celebrate National Barramundi Day.
But industry insiders are hoping to spread a bigger message – keeping the barramundi name as an Australian treasure.
Through a change.org petition, barramundi farmers, including Humpty Doo Barramundi chief executive Dan Richards, have created a petition calling for the Australian Fish Names Standard to apply ‘barramundi’ to Australian fish exclusively and ‘Asian sea bass’ to identify fish from overseas to provide clarity for the consumer.
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“Barramundi is an Australian Aboriginal word so we really want to see barramundi kept as a name that can only be kept for Australian providence fish,” Mr Richards said.
“We want to unleash a bit of people power through this change.org petition, so that people can really get behind it and say barramundi can only be something from Australia, a bit like the French champagne that’s produced.”
Mr Richards said it was important for the Australian industry to differentiate from imported products.
“Barramundi is an iconic species here in Australia, particularly here in the Northern Territory, it has a lot of significance to our economy and our culture here,” he said.
“Fish that are grown here represent Australian quality, Australian jobs, our people, what that means when they got to their supermarkets or fine dining restaurants when to go to eat a piece of barra.”
Bella, Wharf One and the Precinct Tavern co owner Pina Sommerville is one of the biggest retailers of barramundi and said Territorians should also celebrate by enjoying the local product.
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“We never get a complaint about the Humpty Doo barramundi, we’ve had it on our menu for ten years and it’s a good quality fish,” she said.
“For the last seven years our crispy skin barramundi is our most popular dish on our menu, we have it on our menu this weekend … along with barramundi ceviche for Wharf One.
“For Bella we’re going to have our barramundi pasta with our white wine sauce and we’ll also bring back our barramundi spring rolls.”
The Palmerston Game Fishing Club will also be on site at the Waterfront this evening, running a series of casting clinics and imparting tups on how to best catch the elusive fish.
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