Business As Usual at Newcastle Fishermen's Co-Op

Australians love their wild-caught seafood and the NSW coast, all 2137 kilometres of it, reveals an embarrassment of seafood riches.

The lure of surf and sand and the crunch of salty hair is as much about the Australian coastal lifestyle as is the promise of eating great seafood – whether it be cold, poached, pan-fried, deep-fried, barbecued or smoked. There really is no other food that speaks so clearly of place than seafood, especially if you can hear, see or smell the salty air of its former habitat.

The Commercial Fishermen’s Co-Operative, located on Hannell Street in Wickham, is considered to be the best place to get the freshest seafood in Newcastle. Straight from the sea, to the boat, to you – the only way you could get fresher seafood is if you caught it yourself (and have you ever tried to catch a prawn?).

Like many other local businesses, service has slowed at the Commercial Fishermen's Co-Op due to Covid19 and the resulting social-distancing measures, but surprisingly it seems to have had little effect on the overall demand for fresh seafood which is almost on par with previous years.

Co-Op manager Robert Guata said that “trade has been much the same as previous years despite the impacts of the coronavirus which has affected so many other businesses in the area”.

“It seems people who have been unable to go to restaurants, pubs or clubs to enjoy a meal are opting to buy fresh seafood to cook and enjoy at their homes”.

"We certainly were not expecting such positive trade results, but it has been pretty consistent – albeit we have had to limit the number of people in the store and implement a number of safety measures for the benefit of all,” he said.

The Commercial Fishermen’s Co-Operative supplies local caught fresh seafood daily through their retail outlets at Wickham, Swansea, and Tacoma. They also sell wholesale at their receiving depots including Wickham, Nelson Bay, Tea Gardens, Swansea and Tacoma.

Choose from their selection of fresh Atlantic Salmon, barramundi, blue eye travella, tuna, snapper, flathead, kingfish, ling, ocean trout, ocean jacket and orange roughy – fillets or whole. Balmain bugs, blue swimmer crabs, squid, eastern rock lobsters, shrimp, mussels, scallops, clams and oysters… With such a wide selection, there is seemingly no end to this piscatorial paradise!