PORT Stephens’ history shows that we have plenty to be thankful for if you are a lover of seafood.

Commercial fishing has been carried out throughout the Port and along the local beaches since the mid to late 1800s, originally supplying a very small local market including a few Chinese who had settled here after giving up in the gold fields.

Little changed until a steady supply of ice became available in the early 1900s enabling the industry to expand into Newcastle and Sydney.

Since those very early beginnings, Port Stephens has been a regular supplier to local and overseas markets with quality seafood including fish, lobsters, crabs and oysters.

Locally caught seafood brings many visitors into the area as does the lure of catching your own. Recreational fishing is a booming business attracting fishers from all corners of the globe.

This year has been a cracker.

The snapper stocks are excellent as are kingfish, teraglin, mulloway, bream, whiting and flathead.

If you can’t catch a fish in Port Stephens consider tennis.

For those who haven’t noticed, Port Stephens, including the feeder rivers, beaches and bordering reef system, is a mighty big waterway with magnificent habitat.

Through active fisheries management we have achieved a balance where our resources are shared between sustainable commercial fishing, charter operators and recreational fishers.

Enjoy our seafood, it’s the best in the world!

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE