Giant Grouper eaten at Singapore restaurant: Protected species or not?

Straits Times 25 Jul 10;

Chef and restaurant owner Johnny Tan has drawn some flak for buying and dishing out the 220kg giant grouper.

At least one Straits Times reader pointed out in a letter that the fish is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - the world's oldest and largest global environmental network - as a vulnerable species.

A species is said to be vulnerable when its population more than halves over the previous 10 years or occupies less than than 2,000 sq km.

In parts of Australia, the fish is also protected.

Under the Fisheries Management Act in New South Wales state, those who take or possess the protected fish may be fined up to A$55,000 (S$66,650) for corporations or A$11,000 for individuals. There may also be prison terms.

In the Andaman Islands and India, fishermen are also banned from capturing and selling the fish.

On its website, the IUCN said Hong Kong is a major importer of this species, caught mainly in countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.

When queried, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said the Queensland grouper is not listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora appendix.

Species found on the list are either endangered, threatened or illegally exploited.

To Mr Tan, the situation has been played up.

'People will say protect, protect, but they have little knowledge about the fish,' said the 48-year-old. He said the Queensland grouper is not rare in the region.

There are also breeding facilities for the fish in Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, he pointed out.

Mr Tan himself rears about 300 giant groupers in a fish farm in Sabah but they are not for consumption.

Giant grouper eaten up - fins, skin and all
Jamie Ee Wen Wei Straits Times 25 Jul 10;

Big fish eat small fish but not this one. It got eaten by diners, from a tycoon to a chef to ordinary folk.

Reeled in on July 13, the once majestic 220kg Queensland grouper was all bones by last Friday, leaving restaurant owner Johnny Tan grinning to his gills.

Groupers served in restaurants typically range in weight from 20kg to 50kg. That was why this big fish, with a girth of 1.52m and a length of just over 2m, made a media splash when it was caught off Sabah.

It was sold on July 16 for $6,000 to Mr Tan, the chef-owner of Second Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant in Balestier Road.

Work on the fish started at once. Mr Tan and two workers took six hours to scale and clean it. The scales alone came up to 5kg, while the guts weighed about 7kg.

Diners had read about it in The Straits Times and there was no lack of table reservations at the start of last week.

Among them were Malaysian sugar tycoon Robert Kuok, who ordered the fish abdomen, and local celebrity chef Daniel Koh, who tucked into the 3cm thick skin with his family.

Businessman Vincent Chiang, 45, placed an order for an eyeball that weighed 3kg.

'I've eaten giant groupers before but it's not every day that you can eat one this size,' he said.

Businessman Dave Ong, 36, is not a fish gourmet but he returned to the restaurant five times in the past week to eat the grouper.

Mr Ong, who owns a fishing equipment company, first tried the pectoral fins, served with orange cordyceps, and was hooked. He has since eaten the tail, flesh and soup, paying about $80 for each portion.

'My fiancee likes it because the skin is rich in collagen. I like the soup because they use herbs like orange cordyceps.'

While the flesh of big fish tends to be tougher than that of small fish, what set them apart are prized parts like the eyes, throat and lips, which are said to be rich in nutrients like collagen and are regarded as Chinese delicacies.

Mr Roger Wang, 43, director of an events company, made four trips to the restaurant last week for the fish meat, skin and soup.

'The texture is special. Fish is usually very soft but this is chewy. Certain parts tasted almost like meat,' he said.

Mr Tan, 48, declined to say how much he has made. He said he paid a few thousand dollars for ingredients like the orange cordyceps.

Now he has diners hooked, Mr Tan has ordered five Queensland groupers from Indonesia, each weighing over 50kg.

He has also ordered an 80kg grouper for a businessman who asked for a $20,000 fish feast to treat his staff.

But Mr Tan may have created a 'problem' for himself. Customers may now fancy only the big catch, he said.

'I've got more of a headache now,' he said. 'It's very hard to catch these types of fish because they are very heavy. Sometimes, the fishermen can wait up to two to three years before they catch one.'

But should a fish of this size be reeled in again, Mr Tan will not hesitate to buy it.

'Too many people are asking for it,' he said.

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