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Southern Calamari

Sepioteuthis australis

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Happy Fish®
Journey & Timeline

Days

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Story of the fish

Southern Calamari Habits

A voracious appetite for food and sex

Southern Calamari Harvest

seine nets are used

Southern Calamari Handling

iced immediately

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Story of the fisher-farmer

Neville Clarke

No habitat no fishing. I just want to leave a sustainable fishery behind.

Neville is a third-generation fisher whose catch was SASAL assessed.

His family fished Corner Inlet in Victoria for 120 years -hard, unpredictable work, but Neville wouldn’t have traded it, reckoning he had the best office in the world.

A true custodian fisher, Neville remains deeply invested in the health of Corner Inlet. “Recently we succeeded in having our own Voluntary Code of Sustainable Practice made law,” he says- a code that limits fishing effort to just 6–8 hours a day. He’s also played an active role in a seagrass regeneration project, restoring habitat vital to a healthy ecosystem-and has been one of the biggest figures responsible for making the Corner Inlet a role model commercial fisher driven environmental initiatives and safeguards.

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Story of the country

gunaikurnai, bunurong and boon wurrung country
Corner Inlet South Gippsland

Corner Inlet is a marine park at Australia’s southern-most point, fed by the clean, nutrient-rich waters of Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean. A maze of seagrass-carpeted islands and channels, ringed by national parks and dairy farms, it’s one of Australia’s most pristine, industry-free estuaries and home to one of Victoria’s oldest professional fisheries.

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Sustainability assessment criteria

Southern Calamari
Sepioteuthis australis

Producer: Neville Clarke

Assessed by the Sustainable Australian Seafood Assessment Limited (SASAL)

Fin

Southern Calamari Habits

Southern Calamari are masterful shape-shifters. They flash colours and patterns in milliseconds, and bioluminesce to hunt, attract mates, startle predators and talk to one another. Remarkably, they can even take flight in short bursts, jet-propelled by water.

Males stage elaborate, sneaky courtship rituals – dazzling females with colour displays, light shows and duels with rival suitors.

A voracious appetite for food and sex fuels their short, two-year lifespan. Growing and reproducing this fast makes them a naturally more sustainable species.

Calamari rank among the most intelligent invertebrates. They’re social creatures, often schooling together or mingling with fish.

With fin fish stocks decimated globally, Calamari is stepping into a role once dominated by them – as a top predator keeping ocean ecosystems in balance

Southern Calamari Harvest

Seine nets are used. Environmental impacts of harvest methods are largely about how the nets are used.

The fishers are careful of all the fish caught, releasing juveniles and unwanted species in the best possible condition so they can swim away unharmed.

Southern Calamari Handling

Harvested with care and iced immediately, Calamari are rendered unconscious within seconds. This reduces stress and lactic acid build-up, preserving glucose in the flesh -enhancing taste, texture, tenderness and shelf life