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The Citizen

Seafood fest at St Mike's Beach highlights ocean's offerings

As chefs living on the South Coast, we must know how to prepare seafood well. This was a sentiment shared by Chef Thami Dlamini of Chef Thami Kitchen Studios at the Coastal Flavours Seafood Festival held at St Mike's Beach last Saturday. Dlamini said that, as people who come from a background where canned fish was the only type of seafood they were exposed to, it was important to learn about seafood. 'It is important for chefs to know how to prepare fish. It is healthy and does not take long to prepare. I always motivate youngsters that there is more to this industry. You can be a chef with a restaurant, cook for private clients, or be a chef who consults,' he said. The Coastal Flavours Seafood Festival was led by the deputy minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, Narend Singh. Singh said he wanted South Coasters to take advantage of the sardine run. 'The sardine run is dubbed as the greatest shoal on earth, but I do not think all our people are getting benefit from it. I am very pleased that a certain gentleman with over 50 years of experience in netting sardines spoke on how fisherfolk can benefit from the sardine run. Not only catching sardines on the shore, but going out to sea. It is an expensive exercise because you require boats and nets,' he said. He added that with the help of other departments, they hope that in the next two years, local communities will have a way to make a living from the sardine run. The deputy minister said the Coastal Seafood Flavours Festival was to highlight the ocean's offerings. 'But more emphasis today was on meeting fishing cooperatives that were established years ago and were granted fishing rights for 15 years. Many of these cooperatives are not operating efficiently because of challenges such lack of finance. Ten of them from Ugu and eThekwini were present,' he said. Singh added that his department will engage with their partners in government and private sectors to assist these cooperatives. 'Because forming the cooperatives and giving them these permits is one thing, but I would like to see them benefit economically from the enterprises they run,' he said. HAVE YOUR SAY Like the South Coast Herald's Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram