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Fresh Seafood On Koh Phangan
A common sight each evening around the island from the beach and the hillside is the view of thousands of lights accros the ocean. Each light or set of lights either white, green or blue represents a fishing boat. Each night thousands of boats decend into the gulf to supply the fish markets around the country and some even for export.
Koh Phangan is an important island for the fishing boats as it serves as a closest location for many boats to offload their catch. The villages of Chaloklum, Thong Sala, Ban Tai and Seethanu act as processors each day receiving the boats and their catch.
Chaloklum fishing village up in the North of Koh Phangan has a long history of fishing and now holds half a dozen fish yards and a large peir to accommodate fishing trawliers, the beach is also crammed with long tail boats used for fishing.
Types of fish being caught varies depending on the season and the way they are fishing. A common sight in the sea at night is larger fishing boats with a series of strong fluescent bulbs shining down onto the water. These boats are fishing for squid and the lights are there to attract the squid to the surface. Most of the squid is dried out on racks in the sun once its up on land, dried squid is a popular snack in South East Asia.
The squid boats operate using nets and often bring up other fish such as Grouper, Barracuda and King Mackerel, the smaller long tail boats are used to fish with lines and as such they are a fresher bet for the above mentioned fish as the catch has not stayed in the water as long as it does with a net.
To tell is a fish is fresh look first at the eye which should be clear and bright not cloudy and dull, the second test is to look at the gills and check they deep red in color. Further signs that a fish is fresh is a layer of slim over the skin, a firm meat and the push test wher ethe meat should spring back out when pushed in.