Free fish heads every week in Flaxmere, Hawke’s Bay, ‘the first step in exploring other free food sources’

“At this point we’re looking at about five or six fish per person,” Bicknell said.

“It depends on how many people come.”

Bicknell said LegaSea’s mission with these gifts was to minimize the impact on the marine environment through better use of natural resources.

A dedicated fisherman himself, Bicknell said he doesn’t know why people don’t eat fish heads.

“I guess we fishermen like nets and it’s probably a bit disrespectful to the fish.

“What we do here is use the animal as a whole and appreciate the animal as a whole.”

Once the Flaxmere site is up and running, LegaSea and Sustainable Hawke’s plan to open several more weekly headfish tours in the area.

Sustainable Hawke’s Bay chief executive Emma Horgan-Heke calls the partnership with LegaSea “a first step in exploring other sources of free food”.

“We are also thinking about how we could start a project that could focus on pest control in deer by turning it into a source of free meat for everyone.

“The extension of that would be to look at what crops are left on the tree at the end of the season so we can partner with horticulture to pick those crops, do something with them and release them into the community.

“For us, our long-term goal is to look at food resilience and what works for which communities and how we can achieve longer-term independence. »

Horgan-Heke calls this project a triple victory.

“It helps tackle food poverty, it helps reduce waste, which helps reduce emissions, and it also helps biodiversity with some of these projects.”

When asked what they like to do with fish heads, Bicknell said the meat from the head makes the best fish chowder, while Horgan-Heke likes to use it to make fish stock for its Asian cuisine.

However, Cereata Kawenga, who was one of the first to participate in the competition, was looking forward to a big buzz.

“A few onions, potatoes, coconut cream and fish heads. I can’t wait,” Kawenga said.

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today and has spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin and Napier. It reports all the stories relevant to people in the area, as well as articles on art, music and culture.