Seafood with a bright future

Kjetil Gundersen served fish to the scientists Begoña Pérez Villarreal and Øyvind Aas-Hansen.

During the SEAFOODplus Conference in Tromsø, Gundersen demonstrated how easy it is to use halibut for simple and tasty dinner dishes. And he believes in the future of Norwegian seafood on the European market.

Blazing the trail for King Crab

Gundersen frequently uses halibut when he prepares food at the Culinary Institute of Norway, and much of this is farmed halibut. He says that halibut is becoming more and more of a common menu item at restaurants, both here at home and otherwise in Europe.

At the 11th European cooking competition Bocuse d'Or in Lyon in January 2007, King Crab will be the main ingredient. Gundersen believes that this can seriously pave the way for the giant crab in the European market.

"The crab is incredibly good to work with and can be prepared in a variety of different ways", he says.

Established gourmet status

He receives support from scientist Jens Østli at Fiskeriforskning, who also believes the King Crab has potential in the market. He believes it has all the qualifications needed to succeed as a good seafood product.

"The King Crab achieves a high price and is already established as gourmet food on the European continent. Exports of the North American crab varieties Alaska King Crab and Alaska Snow Crab to Europe opened this market many years ago, and we can take advantage of this", says Østli.

"Norway also has a competitive advantage as a supplier in that we are closer to the market and can supply fresh products", he says.

The Norwegian quota for catches of King Crab was 300,000 individuals for 2006. In all, 1500 tonnes of whole King Crab were landed for Norwegian buyers and 516 tonnes were exported for sale outside Norway. In 2005, the King Crab fishery amounted to 100 MNOK in landed value for the fishermen in Finnmark County.

Fiskeriforskning is part owner in the Culinary Institute of Norway and a leading support in the EU Programme SEAFOODplus.

Source: Fiskeriforskning - 14th June 2006

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