Haw’aa for all the fish caught this week.
The rockfish, in Xaayda Kil, is SGan. We have an interesting relationship with this fish. Here on Haida Gwaii, it is often considered a ‘nuisance’ fish, which illustrates the wealth and abundance we have in our seas. In many other parts of the world, the rockfish would be a prized catch and pursued relentlessly for their firm and flavourful flesh. Haida Gwaii has a relative abundance of rockfish and fishers often release them. Though each angler can keep five rockfish apiece, most do not want to deal with processing these spiny creatures. They are sharp with thick skin and tough scales, they have big buggy eyes and there is very little meat on a filet. They are not strong fighters and pose no great challenge to the angler.
The genus sebastes, the rockfishes, currently includes 109 known species. Some of the most common species caught by sport fishers here include, Copper, Quillback, Black, Dusky, China, Canary, Tiger, and Yelloweye. Various species will inhabit various habitats. Most will be found near the bottom and are caught incidentally while fishing for halibut or ling. Others will swim higher in the water column and will take baits being trolled for salmon. Rockfish may attack a bait or lure aggressively but offer little resistance once hooked. Yelloweye are the most prized rockfish for most because of its larger size and because they’re delicious. Being an extremely long-lived fish, living over 100 years and not reaching sexual maturity until 20 years, they are susceptible to overfishing. Populations further south are becoming threatened.
A common issue when reeling in rockfish, particularly when bottom fishing, is barotrauma. Barotrauma in fish is caused by a rapid change in pressure when they are brought up quickly through the water column. Gasses inside the fish rapidly expand, filling the air bladder and bulging the eyes until the fish is unable to return to the bottom. It is a sad sight to see a struggling rockfish unable to swim back down to the bottom.
However, if you do not want to take it home and eat it, there are devices available to save the fish. These are called fish descenders. They are increasing in popularity around North America and have been proven to dramatically increase survival rates of fish suffering from barotrauma. There are several different designs of fish descenders but they all attach to the fish in some manner and with the aid of a weight, pull the fish back down to where it can equalize. If you don’t have a fish descender, you can improvise one by very lightly hooking the rockfish by the skin of its lip, lowering it to the bottom and then yanking hard on the line which will break the skin and let the fish swim free.
Rockfish, being armoured and bony, take a little more time and patience to process than salmon or halibut. Taste and texture varies between species, but generally it is very well-prepared in a number of ways. Here’s a recipe for one of my favourites:
Deep Fried Rockfish in Sweet and Sour Sauce
Make a thin batter out of 1 cup of flour, salt, pepper, paprika and most of a light beer.
Refrigerate.
To make the sauce, fry in vegetable oil: 1/2 cup of onion for 5 minutes.
Add 2 tbsp each of diced garlic and ginger. Fry for a minute.
Add a few drops of toasted sesame oil, 2 oz. mirin, 1 oz. of soya sauce, 2 oz. tomato paste or ketchup, 2 oz. of rice vinegar, 2 tbsp. white sugar, 1/2 tsp. Chinese 5 spice, 1 oz. of sweet chilli sauce, 1/2 tsp. salt, coarsely chopped red/yellow bell pepper and 1 tsp. of sesame seeds.
Cook until bell pepper is soft.
Cube 2 lbs. skinned, deboned rockfish filets.
Coat the fish in batter and deep fry until golden.
Pour the sauce over fish and serve with rice.