Nicely said...


Hey, I was thinking about the relatively low profile news story posted here about Chinas ban on Aussie Crayfish (lobster) exports.

[link to www.abc.net.au]

China buys about 90% of our premium sea foods. I remember when the fishermen's groups did this, and how pissed off I was that we Aussies were left with 2nd grade produce, but paying twice as much! So part of me says suck it.

But, there are families and jobs at stake etc, and our Christmas market is now flooded with cheap lobster. Paul Hogan should change his ad to throw another cray on the barbie...

Back to my initial thought - crayfish are bottom feeders. They eat what is dead on the sea floor, what ever gets washed up in to the shores.

What if our CHIN friends know that the VIC coast line is washing something up that will inevitably be consumed by said crayfish, and OZ will then ship infected crays to China?

Hence the ban.

The area where the crays and other premium seafoods are caught is actually in between OZ and Tasmania. For simplicity I will call it Bass Straight. Bass Straight also is a large oil producing region for Australia.


...an OZ splashzone?