Segment: WAFIC
Episode: S3E5
Presenter: Stuart Laws
Air Date: 8thDecember 2019

• Western Australia is blessed with 10 thousand kilometres of coastline with clean, pristine waters lapping at its shores. This is the perfect environment for some of the world’s best seafood to grow and thrive and thankfully over 80% of the annual production by value is caught in a sustainable way.
• WA is a world leader in sustainable fisheries and the octopus fishery is the latest to obtain MSC Certification taking the total in WA to 11 certified by MSC.
• WAFIC is the peak body for WA fishing and aquaculture industries. The Marine Stewardship Council certification is a system that recognises best practice in fisheries management globally in order to protect marine resources.
• In order to become certified sustainable, a fishery has to sign up to the MSC assessment program.
• The octopus fishery in WA is sustainable. The technology used to fish it was pioneered in the state: the trigger trap has zero by catch, and very little bait is used to attract the octopus.
• Many people shy away from octopus as it has a reputation of being hard to cook, and tough. But in fact octopus is versatile and when prepared the right way, it shines on the plate!
• Fremantle Octopus is so good because the species is unique to the WA coastline, plus they have been doing this for over twenty years and there’s a very specific, unique freezing process that takes place in their factory and ensures consistent high quality.