Fishy fishy where r u?

Our local fresh seafood supply is very dependent on the moon. The best way to determine when to buy marine fish is by checking the lunar calendar (chinese calendar).

Unlike western countries that practise deep sea fishing a lot, our regional fishermen are still pretty much using the age-old techniques in catching fishes. During full moon period (12th to 22nd in lunar calendar), the night sky is brightly lit and marine fishes (like kembong, mabong, sardin, cencaru & etc) will be diving deeper into the sea thus making the effort to catch them so much harder. When the supply is scarce, most fishermen would not opt to venture out to catch fish because the return simply doesn’t worth the effort.

During this period of time, fresh seafood will be fetching higher prices in the wet market. You will also notice that the quality of fish are less desirable. The wholeseller or distributor will be using their buffer stock or thawed frozen seafood during this period of time.
If you’re unsure of the quality of product, it’s better to eat freshwater fishes (catfish, patin or tilapiah) or frozen seafood (dory fillet or frozen wholefish) as that will guarantee you better product quality.