Apollo Bay pair rely on local seafood lifeline

La Bimba chef Steve Earl and crayfisherman Tim Harrington are enticing seafood lovers to the Great Ocean Road this summer, hoping to revive their COVID-battered industries.

Apollo Bay fisherman Tim Harrington will supply La Bimba chef Steve Earl with fresh seafood this summer, and also sell directly to the public from his boat. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

APOLLO BAY chef Steve Earl and crayfisherman Tim Harrington have been working together to keep fresh seafood rolling out to customers during what they both agree has been a shocker of a year.

Steve was forced to close the doors of his Apollo Bay restaurant, La Bimba, during the pandemic, while Tim’s rock lobster export market has been decimated, first by COVID outbreaks in Asia, and now by the political standoff between Australia and major rock-lobster buyer China.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” says Steve, explaining the pair came up with a plan to deliver Tim’s Friday catch directly to customers.

“What we were doing was selling fresh fish that had been pre-marinated. And I’d vacuum-pack them with simple cooking instructions,” Steve says.

“By late afternoon, those fish off the boat were now in people’s homes. All they had to do was take them out of the bag and bake them in the oven or over the barbecue,” says Steve, who is looking forward to reopening La Bimba this month.

Tim will supply the kitchen with his fresh catch, including leatherjackets and snapper, and also sell fish directly to tourists and locals from his boat weekly.

He has one of Victorian Fisheries Authority’s new Wild Catch Seafood permits, which allows commercial fishers to line catch select species for direct sale from the dock as well as to local restaurants.

“That is a step in right direction for our operation at the moment,” he says.

“I have always been really passionate about fresh fish and providing it locally. People love being able to be able to buy direct from fishermen from the boat at the wharf itself.”

In addition to Tim’s seafood, Steve hopes to feature Barongarook Pork, Great Ocean Ducks and Yan Yan Gurt lamb at Deans Marsh on a rotating menu at La Bimba in summer.

“I see La Bimba being a little more casual and relaxed. A place where people can come in, have some wine, order a pot of mussels and enjoy it looking over the ocean.”

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