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Common Coral Trout

Plectropomus Leopardus

01

Happy Fish®

Journey & Timeline

01

Happy Fish®

Journey & Timeline

Chris Bolton Coral Trout

Days

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02

Story of the fish

Common Coral Trout Habits

Change sex mid-life

Common Coral Trout Harvest

Sustainable, wild line-caught

Chris Bolton Coral Trout

Common Coral Trout Handling

Brain spiked as soon

Common Coral Trout Taste

Mild & sweet, strong marine notes

wild

hand line-caught

ike-jime brain spiked

ice slurried

family owned

local

03

Story of the fisher-farmer

Chris Bolton Coral Trout Fisher Farmer with Happy Fish

Chris Bolton

“We believe if we do the best we can by the environment, the environment we rely on will do the best for us as well. The Great Barrier Reef is more than just a place we rely on for our business, it’s our life, it’s our families life, and we want it to stay that way for generations to come. ”

Chris Bolton, the ever-modest pioneering and visionary fisherman, is something of a legend in fishing

one-of-a-kind
Chris Bolton, the ever-modest pioneering and visionary fisher, is something of a legend in fishing, environmental and gastronomic circles. Together with his partner Kim, they have built their piece of paradise and a fishing business based in the world-heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Queensland.

Chris Bolton Fishing has been celebrated for its uncompromising commitment to the reef, sustainability, quality and constant innovation to minimise environmental impacts and improving efficiency. The Boltons are true custodian fisherfolk and serve as role models of next-level fishing practice and care for Country.

Australia’s top chefs and seafoodies prize Chris Bolton Fishing’s produce for its quality, while his fishing techniques and knowledge attracts interest and research collaboration from the science community, fisheries managers and environmental groups. Chris Bolton Fishing is a multi award winning business most recently winning Producer of the Year in 2024 delicious Harvey Norman Produce Awards

fish fraud!
Believe it or not, more Chris Bolton Coral Trout is sold than is actually caught. Well-intentioned chefs receive what they believe are his fish and wonder why the quality is not up to Chris’s standards. That’s because it’s not always his fish! The Happy Fish process is intrinsic to eliminating Fish Fraud and ensuring verifiable sustainability, provenance and quality.

3 generations of fishing in the blood
“From the age of 5, all I wanted to do was to go fishing. I have spent more days on and in the Great Barrier Reef than I have on dry land! … Both my grandfathers were fishermen, my father and my uncles are fishermen and all catch fish in the same areas of the Great Barrier Reef and catchment that I fish today.”

04

Story of the country

Mamu land

kurrimine beach far north QLD

“If you could imagine the most luscious rainforest full of the most colourful birds and animals, multiply that by about 10 and that’s the Great Barrier Reef. I reckon it’s something else!”

05

Sustainability assessment criteria

Chris Bolton Coral Trout

Common Coral Trout
Plectropomus Leopardus

Producer: Chris Bolton
Harvest method: Single-hook handline
Location: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park QLD

SASAL Wild-caught products v2023 Assessment Criteria
The assessed produce has been subject to a rigorous and independent assessment process from which it has been determined that this product meets SASAL Wild-caught Products Sustainability Criteria 2023

Assessed by the Sustainable Australian Seafood Assessment Limited (SASAL)

criterion 1

Status of Wild Stocks: Target and By-product Species

criterion 2

Bycatch

criterion 3

Impacts of fishing on habitats and ecosystems

criterion 1

Status of Wild Stocks: Target and By-product Species

Aim
Are wild populations at a healthy level? Are they managed to support the current rates of fishing over the long-term?

Management Classification
The population is at a level of ‘maximum economic yield’ and regarded as underutilised compared to the ‘maximum sustainable yield’

Current Population Relative to Unfished Level
At the start of 2022 the target species population was estimated at 60% of unfished levels.

Extent of Overfishing
There is no indication that overfishing is occurring and the current level of fishing mortality is unlikely to cause significant stock declines.

Long Term Trends
Catches have been stable for the past 10 years and catch-rates over the past 5 years have been trending upwards.

Biological Parameters
Although fishing has impacted the size and age of female fish in the population, the range of this species and sex-ratio are not significantly impacted by fishing.

Management Effectiveness
The fishery is effectively managed by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland. Stock abundance is managed to maintain 60% of unfished levels and it appears ecosystem integrity is intact

criterion 2

Bycatch

Aim
Are they captured using techniques that minimise the catch of other species, and released fish have high rates of survival?

Is there bycatch?
Yes

Population Impacts of Bycatch
Although there is a lack of published data on bycatch rates, there is high survivorship of discards. It appears there are only low-level impacts on the population levels of any species in the bycatch.

Ecosystem Impacts of Bycatch Discards
There does not appear to be any significant ecosystem impacts from bycatch discards or bait fishing. The majority of bycatch consists of undersized target and by-product species. However, given that there is very little data on bycatch composition and rates of discarding for non-target species, this potential impact cannot be assessed adequately and remains unknown.

Management Effectiveness
There are some historical data on bycatch discards rates and post-release survival which have been used to inform stock assessments and the catch quota. There is monitoring of threatened species through fisher logbooks, but overall there is room for improved monitoring and management of bycatch.

criterion 3

Impacts of fishing on habitats and ecosystems

Trophic Impacts of Species Catch (target and non-target species)
Studies have shown that outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish (CoTS) may be driven by the removal of reef fish including coral trout. However, such trophic effects are likely indirect and complex since adult coral trout are not known to consume CoTS.

Physical Effects on Habitats
GPS guided electric motors are used instead of anchoring and biodegradable fishing line is also used to reduce physical impacts on the coral reef habitat.

Spatial Scale of Impacts
The fishing operation focuses on a relatively small proportion of the available fishable habitat in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP). In addition, 33% of representative habitat is protected from fishing in the GBRMP which further limits the spatial scale of impacts.

Temporal Scale of Impacts
Persistent physical impacts are minimal.

Management of Impacts
Ecosystem impacts are constrained and well managed, and monitored by various government agencies. Voluntary agreements are embraced, such as being a Reef Guardian Fisher, to go beyond what is required by State and Federal laws.

Fin

Common Coral Trout Habits

sex
One of the most fascinating things about Plectropomus leopardus is they can change sex! Almost all start life as females, while some later switch to being males usually the larger more dominant ones. They also gather for new moon spawning parties, sometimes in their hundreds, all synced perfectly with the moon’s phases.

food
Coral Trout are lightning-fast “ambush” predators. They lie in wait, and then use their explosive speed, quick reflexes and sharp binocular vision to snap up fish and crustaceans. As important mid-level predators, they help keep reef ecosystems balanced by controlling the numbers of smaller species.

colour
The colour tells you the depth the Trout came from. Fish caught in shallow water less than 10 metres often have a greenish tone. The deeper the colour the red, the deeper the water they were caught in. Colours can vary greatly as we fish a range of depths

Common Coral Trout Harvest

sustainable, wild, hand line caught, brain-spiked & ice slurried
Fisherman Chris Bolton catches every fish one by one; it’s one line and one hook!
“My grandfather caught fish the same way, on the same reefs I fish today. You feel the fish bite and pull it straight in so the fish is in the boat within seconds. When I started concentrating on quality rather than quantity, most people, especially other fishermen, thought I was crazy. I just thought there has to be a more sustainable way.”

There is very little bycatch when targeting coral trout, less than 10%. Most bycatch are prized table fish, such as red emperor, spangled emperor, red throat emperor and various cod species. The very small amount of unwanted bycatch is always released alive and healthy.

sustainability practices

  • Using solar power, we produce as much energy annually as we consume
  • Regardless of catch, no single area is repeatedly fished again and again!
  • Use an electric anchor which holds the boat in position via GPS, without the need for a metal anchor that can damage the delicate reef environment
  • Use large hooks and heavy tackle to avoid catching juveniles
  • Sightings of species of conservation interest are reported to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Queensland Fisheries
    Frequent communication with Queensland Fisheries and are voluntarily involved with fisheries research
  • Spawning aggregations, where fish gather in high densities to reproduce, are avoided. This ensures fish grow into sexual maturity to reproduce and replenish the population.

reef guardian
As a Reef Guardian fisher, Chris takes voluntary actions beyond what is required by law and openly sharing information. Read more

keep it local
Coral trout are one of the most highly regarded table fish on the Great Barrier Reef, or anywhere in the world for that matter. In Queensland, a large percentage of commercially caught coral trout are shipped overseas alive, but not Chris Bolton’s. Every trout caught stays right here in Australia, ready for local plates.

Common Coral Trout Handling

overall process
Our line-caught reef fish are killed instantly and humanely using the ancient Japanese ike-jime method. Fish are then bled and immediately placed into a salt-ice brine to bring their temperature down to 2à„°C (freshwater ruins the flavour of fish). Once this is achieved, every fish is gently hand-packed, one by one, into custom-made biodegradable boxes made from recycled cardboard.

quality & time
Fishing expeditions are very short from a 1 day trip to a maximum of 5 days. To put it in context, most other Coral Trout fishers do a minimum of 9 or 10 days, some up to 21 days. Those fish are often held in tanks for weeks without food before being shipped, which means natural fat content can be very low. Chris’s catch is either killed instantly upon capture, or held in live tanks for just a few days at most. When held live, they are ike-jimied at the wharf, straight to the packing shed, and arrive in Sydney within hours. This ensures the quality and high fat content for his Coral Trout.

ike jime
Ike jime or brain-spiking, is the most humane method to cause immediate brain death of a fish. Upon capture the fish is firmly held still, a thin, round stainless steel rod sharpened to a point is quickly inserted just above and behind the eye, directly into the brain of the fish. Because every species has a different shaped head, and different sized brain, it takes some practice to insert the spike in exactly the right spot. Read more

no cuts into the flesh/throat: cleaner, better flavour
In addition to ike jime, Chris snips the gills of the fish, further reducing the blood content of the flesh. The blood in the fish flesh retracts into the gut cavity, which results in cleaner, better flavoured flesh.

Although the fish is brain dead, the heart continues to beat for several minutes. Snipping the gills instantly after ike-jime allows the heart to pump as much blood as possible out of the flesh. When cuts are made into a fish they create entry points for bacteria, which reduces both eating quality and shelf life. Chris’s fish are all bled by snipping the gills with scissors so there are no cuts into the flesh.

WHY ike jime & bleeding?

minimising stress
Ike-jime minimised stress to the fish, which reduces the production of adrenaline. Higher levels of adrenaline give a slightly more bitter flavour and shorten the shelf life of all fish, regardless of how well they are handled.

lower lactic acid
Lactic acid levels are much lower in fish that are killed by ike-jime, giving the flesh a slightly less ‘fishy’ taste and softer feel as opposed to letting a fish die slowly.

Common Coral Trout Taste

flavour & texture profile

  • mild & sweet flavour, subtle, clean and delicate
  • no hint of ”fishy” flavour
  • strong marine notes, faint sea aroma
  • firm but tender texture
  • dense flesh with scalloping, layered, flakey flesh
  • moist
  • silky mouthfeel
  • versatile : sashimi, crudo, steamed, pan fried with skin to get a crispy texture due to the layer of fat beneath the skin with umami crunch, can be roasted, grilled
  • excellent flesh yield of 50% versus many other prized table fish yielding only 35-40% such as John dory, Hapuku, Snapper