Drying ChiliSeafood Recipes with Chef Leslie Cannold.

Gender Ethics and Seafood Sustainability

The gender of crabs, fish, oysters and even sharks significantly impacts the flavour when we come to eat them. In many fisheries it also impacts what can be legally removed from the oceans and waterways - and what must be returned to live and breed sustainably so a future supply is ensured.

Platycephalus fuscus or Dusky Flathead

This fish changes gender as it grows older. Under 75cm they are male, but as they grow beyond this lenght they change to female. Now able to breed future stock with the smaller males.

The taste difference is significant. The males are ideal for eating, and if you were to ignore gender ethics and try a large female you would not only be damaging future supply but would be very disappointed with the taste.

Scylla Serrata or Mud Crab

Mud crabs are born as either male or female. The female mud crab is vital for the sustainability of the species. You could remove 50 male mud crabs from one breeding area and not make a dent in their proliferation.

From a completely unethical and simply selfish point of view... the female crabs have around half as much meat in them as the males do. Taste wise they are the same.

Mussels a bivalve mollusc of several types

At last - both male and female mussels can be eaten without any impact on their sustainability. But interestingly, many fisherman who harvest thease tasty mollusc say the males tase significanly better!

My sister Rachael eats mussels raw and agrees passionately that the males taste much better.

Mother Nature the Gender Ethicist

One may easily conclude that mother nature is pointing us in the right direction when it comes to the gender ethics and sustainability of many species... making the males taste mich nicer and yeild greater edible flesh then their famle counterparts.

~ Leslie Cannold ~

 

Cooked Prawn

 

~ home ~

Top