Where Have Your Fish Come From ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...upposedly-fresh-fish-supermarket-counter.html

I told them I got dropped by eating some tinned prawns, they wouldn't believe me.

 

That's an interesting article, but is it really news?

I think if it highlights anything, it is how too many people take no interest in their food. If those people gave it even a moment's thought, their heads would fill up with all sorts of questions, such as:

* (for those living inland) It is at least 2 hours drive at lorry speed between here and the nearest commercial port, and in any case sorting, packing, distributing etc must add many hours on. That being the case, if this fish has never been frozen, wouldn't it be a bit smelly by now?

* (For everyone) Deep sea trawlers sometimes spend several days at sea, hundreds of miles out, before returning to port to unload. Again, if the catch was never frozen wouldn't it get a bit smelly by the time it was landed?

* Sometimes at the 'fresh fish' counter we see fish that typically comes from far away, e.g. Red Snapper, or fish that only comes to our waters in significant numbers at certain times of year, yet we can buy them any time. Surely they must have been frozen for quite some time?

 

I know where my fish comes from.
I buy it from the local fishmonger. It's expensive.
He has a notice up to say where and when the fish was landed and the certificate to show the landing catch that day at that fishing harbour.
Most of what he has was landed at Arbroath at 0600 in the morning - and I can buy it at 10.00
Beautiful, fresh fish - for a price.

I bought some from the Supermarket. Said it was River Cobbler. It looked good. Googled that and dropped it in the bin. Farmed in filth - unbelievable.

And I thought everybody knew about the prawns. If you don't - have a Google.

 

I forgot to add, now that we've moved back to the coast, we're really lucky sometimes. The local fishermen sell their catch straight from their boats (small cobble type boats, independently owned). You know the fish is fresh because these boats are too small to have big refrigerated holds, or spend more than a few hours at sea.

The only trouble is catching them. They don't seem to be there at any set time, so its just about being in the right place at the right time.

 

Fortunately, we live by the coast (20 minutes) and ours is brought in daily .. but sadly for me I don't eat much fish (and even less meat) but we know where it comes from.

 

I think if you buy processed fish products you are likely to get what the article says, much the same way if you buy processed meat your actually getting all the rubbish reconstituted into the right shape.

Loads of people dont care what they eat, some people actually manage to keep a kebab down long enough to digest it, if you can do that a few prawns raised in sewage wont hurt you.

I've ofter wondered how fresh fish is in supermarkets and prefer to buy it at the coast if possible, (even then you can get caught),Tesco and Sainburys fish always looks pretty awful to me.
Even Waitrose is not good.

Not a great fan of Morrisons, but their fish looks the best of the bunch to me.

 

Yep, I go for Morrisons fish, especially as one of the fishmongers there is secretary of the local angling club & knows his stuff.

I've had a few bad reactions to farmed prawns & now only buy them when it says where they come from.

I've nothing against frozen fish, i'd prefer it to be frozen if the trawler is at sea for a week.
I just dont want to buy a "fresh" mackerell off a fish counter only to find it wont stay on the hook when I get to the beach because it was frozen & then thawed out again, makes it go sloppy.

If I buy frozen mackerell for bait, I get blast frozen as it keeps its texture better.

 

My prawns come out of the net traps (modern ones now, not the old bicycle wheel contraptions of earlier days) whenever I go sea fishing or on family 'seaside' holidays, and I freeze fish heads for bait from caught fish.

Yes, freezing mackerel even for bait (other than heads for prawns) can be useless, but I find if they're filleted on the beach, and immediately vacuum packed (I use a battery powered Vacu-Seal - also useful for de-gassing wine), then put into 40 litre Halfords electric chiller boxes (in their sale for £40 each at the moment) - I've got 2 - with a double layer of extra large 2 litre frozen ice blocks over the top, they can be put in your home freezer and will be absolutely fine for the likes of soused mackerel, pâté , etc. (but obviuosly nothing like a pan fried fresh caught fish).

 

Sorry, by "ice blocks" I meant the freezer blocks with the blue liquid in, all packed solid in one box on the way there.

Family hols have always been Charmouth (Seadown), West Bay (Parkdean) or a small site near Porlock (where there's a riding stables on site that keeps my daughter busy) with as many trips that I can fit in between when it's just me my rods, going to the same areas.

 

Thought it might be, this'll be familiar to you then.



Thats where I fish most saturday nights in the summer.
Sorry about the salt spray on the lens

 

I've seen it like whilst fishing on the east pier before the rock amour was there, having to run back from the end, and even then lifting the toes of my boots up facing it so it wouldn't drench my feet.

Another view of Golden Cap, but from West Bex (although not really my favourite place of an evening, 4:00 am in summer being much quieter ):

 

Hey good pic Scrungee.

I don't like West Bexington when the crowds are there, its amazing how many people can't cast straight & I guess have no insurance too. Wouldn't like to get hit by a 5oz lead.

I was fishing the old east pier at night, tide was 3 hours down from high, sea was calm. Weather was calm, then I noticed a wall of water coming straight at me, no time to run, I grabbed all my gear that I could & got into the fetal position. The wave hit the end of the pier & crashed down on me.

When it passed, the stuff i hadn't grabbed had been washed down past the black hut.

Have you noticed how much more flavour the prawns you catch have compared to bought prawns ? Don't know how they manage to take the flavour out


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[quote='miraflores' pid='405877'I have tried once eating tinned prawns. I will never ever ever try them again! Disgusting.
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Hi Flower,

Yep, ate a tin of prawns & had to go off sick for the day, terrible head ache, shaking & pain in the limbs.