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During this Christmas and holiday season we want you to have an exceptionally good time. Break away from the previously traditional hot turkey and ham and treat yourself and the family to fresh and healthy local Tasmanian seafood. The wonderful textures, colours and tastes are all available right now at seafood outlets across Tasmania.

Make it an all Tassie festive season this year with our wonderful nutritional seafood and the kids will love it too. Oysters, scallops, crayfish, atlantic salmon, ocean trout, blue eye trevalla, trevally, flathead, ling, flake and many more excellent finfish species are all available right now and are yours for the asking. With a cool glass of champagne, wine or beer what more could you ask for.

Seafood lovers across our State know that we have ready access to the best seafood products in the world caught in our own cool, clean waters so start a new tradition for your family and friends ­ a Tassie seafood festive season. The Tasmanian seafood industry currently catches and produces around 23,000 tonnes of seafood valued at $330m. each year so there is plenty available for everyone. But most importantly seafood is also good for you. Seafood is often referred to as the health food as it is an excellent source of protein and is rich in essential polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Seafood is the best food source of iodine and saltwater seafood contains about twice the iodine found in freshwater varieties. It also provides an excellent source of selenium and fluoride. Other minerals which are provided in moderate amounts in seafood include iron, zinc and magnesium. From the early days of nutrition science, finfish in particular has been acknowledged as being a high protein, low calorie food. In recent years, the importance of finfish in the diet has extended from its image as a cornerstone of a healthy diet to more specialised roles in disease prevention. It has been observed for instance that the consumption of two or more serves of finfish per week is associated with a lower prevalence of heart disease.

Over time beneficial effects of seafood consumption have also been reported on other diseases or conditions. These benefits have been linked to the long-chain, highly polyunsaturated Omega-3 fatty acids and particularly EPA and DHA which are found in seafood. CSIRO research has shown that most Australian seafood has higher levels of nutritionally beneficial Omega-3 oils than other food groups and lower levels of cholesterol. Interestingly Australian fish have higher levels of the fatty acid DHA than fish from northern hemisphere waters and DHA is believed to be beneficial for infant brain and retina function and development.

Seafood consumption is now associated with a wide range of health benefits including strong evidence in the prevention and management of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, irregular heart beat, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. There are also promising preliminary results that show seafood may benefit sufferers with bowel cancer, asthma and Chrohnıs disease and with possible health benefits associated with memory and depression.

Recent studies demonstrate that even a limited finfish intake ­ say one serve (about 100g) per week ­ is better than none, especially in relation to heart disease. Up to four serves a week may be useful in some health respects such as blood pressure control. The best ways to cook seafood and maintain its health benefits are by steaming, microwaving, grilling or baking. If seafood is to be fried, it should be pan-fried in a small amount of oil rather than solid fat. Cooking seafood with various herbs may also be beneficial to health ­ for example, supplementing seafood with garlic can significantly lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Herbs are normally anti-oxidants as well, and can help to preserve the essential fatty acid value of seafood and reduce the formation of potentially harmful heterocyclic amines (derivatives of amino acids in proteins) if it is over-cooked. Nutritionists increasingly advocate the use of a Mediterranean diet as a healthy diet for people at risk or suffering from coronary heart disease. This diet consists of more bread, more vegetables, more legumes, more seafood, fruit and less meat.

So the message is clear. Have between one and four serves (about 100 grams per serve) of finfish a week because increasing health benefits may be seen across this range of intake. Seafood is important in disease prevention but should not be considered in isolation. Seafood should ideally be combined with a diet rich in fruit and vegetables and it has a premium place in a healthy diet for most people. We certainly are lucky to have the wide variety of locally caught fresh seafood available throughout Tasmania. Our premium seafood products and fresh fish in particular are readily accessible around the State through wholesale and retail outlets (always subject to seasonal restrictions) and are enthusiastically enjoyed by locals and visitors.

So do yourself, family and friends a big favour and enjoy healthy Tasmanian seafood this festive season.

Good seafood ­ good health! ­ and have a very Merry Christmas.