Seafood has become synonymous with Easter, from Good Friday to Easter Monday Canberrans love to chow down on fish, prawns and oysters.
Owner and manager at Sea Harvest fish market in Belconnen and Fyshwick Spyro Konidaris has already sold hundreds of dozens of oysters and tonnes of fish and prawns.
Easter is second only to Christmas as the busiest time of year for the fish monger.
Nationally, Australians are expected to spend $1.5 billion on food over the Easter period.
"We weren't too sure what to expect considering that people are now going away and traveling but we are pretty much close to or more than [the sales] we had last year," Mr Konidaris said.
There is a wide variety of seafood available for hungry customers in the ACT with some more sustainable options on hand for the discerning shopper.
Mr Konidaris said the tiger prawns were "really really really nice" this year and also recommended delicous South Coast lobsters, sea perch and flathead.
Despite closures at oyster farms along the South Coast, Sea Harvest had plenty of delicious Tasmanian Pacific oysters on hand.
Recent heavy rainfall has closed many oyster farms along the NSW coast, meaning our beloved South Coast rock oysters are few and far between this Easter.
For those who wish to have a seafood feast without contributing to depleting fish stocks Alex Webb from the Marine Stewardship Council offered some advice.
He said there was no such thing as a sustainable species.
Rather the key is to ensure our oceans aren't overfished.
A delicate balance is needed to ensure populations are able to grow.
"It's really important that [commercial fishers] catch the right amount of fish, the right type of fish, that they ensure that ecosystem is maintained, and that small baby fish grow up to be adults and then have their own little baby fish," Mr Webb said.
He urged consumers to look out for the Marine Stewardship Council's blue tick of approval on wild-caught seafood or the Aquaculture Stewardship Council's green tick for farmed fish.
In addition, asking your fish monger questions about sustainability and where the seafood is sourced can help the future of our oceans.
"It's really important that we look after our ocean, the ocean is facing a triple threat of pollution - by plastics and chemicals - climate change, and overfishing," Mr Webb said.
"80 per cent of the world's biodiversity is in the ocean, but because it's far removed from the everyday we tend not to think about life below water too often.
"Make the right choice and buy certified sustainable products where you can, ask the right questions of your fishmonger... and try and reduce food waste because if we don't eat as much, if we don't throw away as much, then we don't need to capture as much in the first place."
Fish and seafood wholesaling contribute more than $4 billion to the Australian economy annually.
Visit www.msc.org for more information.
