Respecting the fish means getting the most and the very best out of the fish you take. Having posed for a quick photo, quickly and humanely dispatch the fish – some of us use the “ike jime” method (spiking the fish’s brain), bleed it and put it an ice slurry – a mix of ice and seawater – to keep the fish as fresh as possible before filleting it later.

Stop fishing once you’ve got what you need and fish for something else. Demersals generally do not release well, particularly when caught in deep water, so we avoid “catch and release” fishing for them for fun because of the harm it can do to the fish and the fish stocks. In our view “high grading” is just not on. Once you’ve got what you need, stop fishing for demersals and fish for something else like tuna, squid or whiting.

There is so much more meat to get out of the fish we take than just the fillets. The wings, the cheeks, the frames and even the head are edible and delicious. For some of us Dhufish Forever supporters, getting more out of the fish we take, means we can catch less. If we all do this, it means we can reduce the catch and contribute to speeding up the recovery of the stocks.

Check out this great filleting video below.

More fish filleting tutorials here >

In WA, we are blessed with a wide range of quality fishing options, whether it’s fishing for yellowtail kingfish on nearshore reefs, trolling for tuna, casting stickbaits for dolphinfish on the FADs, fishing for delicious whiting and squid, or targeting crabs in our lower west coast estuaries, there’s plenty of sustainable fishing options to go for in addition to fishing for demersals. So, mix up the kind of fishing you do – it keeps things fresh, exciting and ultimately makes us better fishers.

There is always more to learn in fishing. We’d love to hear what you do and your tips for looking after demersals – email us at admin@dhufishforever.org.au