AWARD winning North Queensland seafood has been showcased to the nation with a MasterChef Australia contestant requesting a delivery of fresh Coral Trout.
Queensland contestant and seafood maestro Harry Foster, who was born in Rockhampton and raised in Townsville, gave his fellow contestants a fish filleting masterclass with produce delivered direct from Kurrimine Beach.
Harry, who came third in season eight of the popular Network 10 show, has returned for another chance at success in the 2020 'Back to Win' series.
With a passion for sustainable seafood, Harry turned to Kurrimine Beach fisherman Chris Bolton, of Chris Bolton Fishing, to request an order of fresh fish.
Chris, who last year won a Delicious produce award in the 'from the sea' category, said he was thrilled his product had gained national exposure.
Harry said he had purchased Chris's fish previously and was 'blown away by the quality.'
"I grew up on the reef and ever since I was a baby my parents have always had this obsession with the reef," Harry said.
"Moving up to Townsville and living on the water I was diving and spear fishing every spare minute I had.
"There's a sort of connection between going diving and fishing and cooking, which is I get to know exactly where my food is coming from and treat it the way I want to treat it.
"There is something special about getting to catch your own food and put that on the plate."
Harry said he was interested in Chris's fishing methods and they became friends on Instagram.
"I started bugging him with questions about his fishing processes, I was absolutely in awe the fish is so good, you don't often see that.
"It is incredible with the current global climate to support a small producers and people doing things sustainably and property was important for me, which ties back to my own fishing and diving experience and knowing where food comes from."
Chris said he was stoked when he was approached to provide fish for the program.
He said judge Jock Zonfrillo had also used his produce previously, which he believed helped Harry showcase his fish on the show.
"Harry had been buying my fish through the Fish Factory in Brisbane a bit and looked into what I do and how I operate.
"He liked how I do things and we got talking through social media and he's been a bit of a supporter ever since.
"When he was on MasterChef he just contacted me and said I want to use your fish so I hand picked exactly what he wanted, caught it one day and sent it the next."
Chris operates from a 7.5m boat with a crew of two, said is focused on quality over quantity.
He credits his unique line-fishing and ancient Japanese killing method for the superior quality of his fish.
Chris said the airing of the episode on Thursday night couldn't have come at a better time, with coronavirus greatly impacting his business.
"We lost 95 per cent of our market overnight when the restaurants shut down, it was an instant kick in the guts there.
"Luckily we supply the Fish Factory in Brisbane, we've always supplied some locally and we started our online selling direct to the public and bought a little delivery vehicle."
Chris said while demand for fish had dropped, their bait was taking off.
"We've always caught and sold our own bait, and we are doing a lot more of that as there's a lot more recreational fishing going on.
"We had never seen such a demand for our bait, so the reef fish market has died a bit, but bait is taking off.
"We are down in dollars, but still as busy as ever."
