Around 2500 people enjoy Bermagui's Taste of Seafood Festival

Starting on Friday evening, kids enjoyed free ice-creams from Bermagui Gelati Clinic ahead of the spectacular fireworks display.

Live music from Choirboys frontman Mark Gable and Bec Caurana, who was a highlight of the 2021 season of The Voice, added to the festive atmosphere on Friday night, while local hard rock band Fractured Minds had a solid following when they performed on Saturday.

On Friday it took less than an hour for the crowd to devour 30 kilograms of fresh prawns and 50 dozen oysters while international award-winning chef Phil Harte cooked up a storm with a prawn curry and a seafood chowder to showcase the locally caught ling.

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Mr Harte, who coordinated the series of eight festivals in NSW on behalf of the Professional Fishers Association, said all the restaurants in the Fishermen's Wharf building were booked to capacity, as was Bermagui's holiday accommodation.

He said around 1500 watched the fireworks and a total of 2500 visited the festival over the two days.

The Taste of Seafood Festival coincided with the 13^th birthday of the Bermagui Fishermen's Wharf so there was free birthday cake for festival goers from Francesca Michielin and Alberto Cementon of Bermagui Gelati Clinic.

On Saturday there was a prawn peeling competition and gumboot throwing for adults and children.

Mr Harte demonstrated how to cook ling meuniere and fettucini marinara, along with steamed cockles and mussels.

Tricia Beattie, CEO of the Professional Fishers Association, said some of the mussels and cockles were harvested by a local fisherman called Carl who opened the molluscs for people to eat as he talked about the industry.

"For us these festivals are about reaching out to each community and saying who we are, what we do and how we do it," she said.

So to have a local fisherman like Carl speaking to people "to me, that is what we are here for".

Both Ms Beattie and Mr Harte were delighted at the festival's success.

Mr Harte said both the local golf club and the Bermagui Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism approached him about getting involved in future events.

The free event was funded by the NSW government's Eat More NSW Seafood grants program.

The program is a partnership between the NSW government and the NSW Seafood Industry Council to promote consumption of NSW seafood and foster greater community awareness and support for the industry.

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