‘The Territory doesn’t really do subtle. It does heat, distance, crocodiles and a coastline that most of the world couldn’t find with a map and a guilty conscience. And from that coastline comes seafood that needs no garnish, no foam, no chef’s tweezers, just fire, salt and the good sense to leave it alone. Seafood month isn’t marketing. It’s a correction. A month-long reminder that while the southern capitals were arguing about small plates, the top end was quietly sitting on the best larder in the country. Every day should taste like this. For thirty days, at least, it officially does.’

John Susman AM, NT Seafood Ambassador

When the print deadline for this edition of Territory Q arrived, NT Seafood Month had only just begun.

It was too early to report final event attendance, ticket sales or economic impact however some of the most important outcomes of the inaugural campaign were already visible.

NT Seafood Month and events were created to celebrate the people, places and produce behind the Northern Territory seafood industry and, importantly, to create stronger commercial connections between fishers, farmers, suppliers, chefs, restaurants, retailers and consumers.

Those connections are already delivering. The month began on the back of national recognition for the Territory industry. Humpty Doo Barramundi was named Primary Producer (Large) at the 2026 National Seafood Industry Awards at Seafood Directions, while veteran NT fisher Bruce Davey of FV Wildcard was jointly recognised with the Industry Ambassador Award.

Closer to home, participating venues also celebrated success at the Hospitality NT Gold Plate Awards. Pink Chopstix was named Seafood Restaurant of the Year, while Five Spice won Best New Establishment and Best Dessert.

These are already successful Territory businesses. NT Seafood Month provides another platform to tell their stories, introduce their products to new audiences and connect them with new markets.

One of the clearest examples is Australia Bay Seafoods and Humpty Doo Barramundi, major partners of the inaugural NT Seafood Month.

Australia Bay and Humpty Doo Barramundi participated in the national launch at LUA Restaurant at Sydney Fish Market, alongside the NT Seafood Council, John Susman AM, Corey Costelloe and Bruce and Juanita Davey, with media and industry in attendance.

The objective was bigger than one dinner or event. It was about helping diners recognise NT Seafood as a premium Territory product and understand the business, fishery and people behind it.

At the free family friendly NT Seafood Festival at Darwin Waterfront, NT Seafood Ambassador Corey Costelloe cooked with Australia Bay Saddletail Snapper and Chef Jojo from The Aviary cooked with Humpty Doo Barramundi.

Corey travelled to Darwin to collaborate with producers and chefs and share knowledge developed through more than a decade at Rockpool Bar & Grill and now as co-owner of 20 Chapel in Sydney.

His involvement captured a central idea behind NT Seafood Month: great seafood becomes more valuable when chefs understand where it comes from and can share that story with diners.

The campaign has also highlighted the important role suppliers play between the fisher and the restaurant.

Taroona Darwin & Mackerelonline, led by Norm Hedditch, has worked with Bruce and Juanita Davey of FV Wildcard to bring the Spanish Mackerel story to consumers.

At Fin & Tonic, chef-owner Kerry Brown joined Norm, Bruce and Juanita for an informal afternoon of Spanish Mackerel, fish tales and beer, while the free Waterfront celebration provided another opportunity for filleting demonstrations, fisher stories and smoked Spanish Mackerel tastings.

But one of the most interesting outcomes has occurred away from the stage.

Through conversations developed while planning NT Seafood Month, Chef Gaurav Gulati and the Mindil Beach Casino Resort restaurant team began sourcing champagne lobsters through Taroona Darwin & Mackerelonline, while developing the NT Seafood x il Piatto Seafood Degustation menu.

That is market development in action: a supplier introduces a chef to a product, a restaurant gains access to something new, and more Territory seafood reaches Territory diners.

Donna and Dan at the NT Seafood Council have played a big part in advocating for the industry and helping make meaningful connections with NT Seafood Month and the fishers and producers.

Another important partnership connects Thamarrurr Sea Farmers from Wadeye with Pink Chopstix.

Developed through Thamarrurr Development Corporation, the Sea Farmers initiative is creating opportunities for local people to build skills, employment and commercial seafood capability while remaining connected to Country.

During NT Seafood Month, their mud crab was given a visible and celebrated pathway into hospitality and consumer markets.

The free Seafood Festival at the Darwin Waterfront sponsored by TENT featured the Sea Farmers demonstrating mud crab tying and talking with visitors about their work, alongside DARRIKARDU Art Collective and children’s activities.

Then Chef Rio Lu from Pink Chopstix took the product into the kitchen, demonstrating how to prepare and cook a whole mud crab and transforming it into Singapore Chilli Mud Crab.

Pink Chopstix also hosted the Get Cracking Mud Crab Dinner, with Chef Rio and Chef Lin putting Territory mud crab at the centre of the experience.

The Thamarrurr story continued at the NT Seafood Long Table Dinner at Wharf One, where Corey Costelloe, Storyteller Chef Zach Green and Wharf One Executive Chef Boet Zoodsma created six courses of Territory seafood while producers were invited to meet guests and talk about the catch.

It is a simple but powerful model: producer, chef, restaurant and diner in the same room.

“There is a peculiar madness in confining the celebration of seafood to a single month, like rationing sunlight or scheduling joy. Seafood is not an occasion. It is the oldest, truest food we have, older than bread, older than fire, older than manners. But if a month is what it takes for the rest of the country to notice that the Northern Territory sits on some of the last great wild waters on Earth — barramundi with skin that crackles like applause, mud crabs sweet enough to make a pastry chef weep, Spanish mackerel that shames anything ever pulled from the Mediterranean — then fine. Take the month. Just understand it’s a down payment on the other eleven.” John Susman AM – NT Seafood Ambassador.

Across September, the program included the Humpty Doo Barramundi Dinner at The Aviary with chef John “Jojo” Borlagdan, the Australia Bay Snapper Dinner at Five Spice with chef Kevin Chen, Get Cracking at Pink Chopstix with chef Rio Lu, Spanish Mackerel at fin & tonic with chef Kerry Brown, the Long Table at Wharf One with chefs Corey Costelloe, Zach Green and Boet Zoodsma and the premium NT Seafood Degustation at il Piatto with chef Gaurav Gulati.

More than 20 businesses joined the NT Seafood Trail, encouraging consumers to actively seek out venues serving Territory seafood.

The free Darwin Waterfront celebration brought together Humpty Doo Barramundi, Thamarrurr Sea Farmers, Australia Bay Seafoods, Taroona Darwin & Mackerelonline, FV Wildcard, Mapurlarri Prawn Farm, NT Seafood Council, Hospitality NT, ISAACNT, Mr Barra, Territory Proud, NT Fisheries and DARRIKARDU Art Collective from Wadeye, alongside cooking demonstrations from Corey Costelloe, Zach Green, Jojo Borlagdan and Rio Lu.

The inaugural month long festival of seafood has only been possible because partners were willing to believe in a new concept.

Tourism and Events NT, Australia Bay Seafoods, Humpty Doo Barramundi, NT Seafood Council, Hospitality NT, Thamarrurr Development Corporation, Darwin Waterfront Precinct, Taroona Darwin & Mackerelonline, FV Wildcard, Mr Barra, producers, chefs and hospitality businesses have all helped turn an idea into a month-long industry celebration.

Venue partners including Pink Chopstix, Five Spice, fin & tonic, The Aviary, Wharf One, il Piatto and businesses across the NT Seafood Trail opened their kitchens and created opportunities around local produce.

The final numbers will come later.

But perhaps the most important measure of success will be what happens after September: whether visitors book Territory travel destinations with food as a driver, chefs continue ordering new Territory products, producers find new markets, diners begin asking where their seafood comes from and businesses keep the relationships they formed during NT Seafood Month.

That was the idea from the beginning (and to put on one month of fabulous events and a festival).

Keep an eye on NT Seafood Month and Territory Taste for the results of the inaugural seafood festival, and what comes next in 2027.

“We celebrate wine for a lifetime, cheese for centuries, and yet seafood, the one food that arrives with the weather still on it, that tastes of tide and place and the particular morning it was caught, gets a polite nod and a squeeze of lemon. Not in the Territory. Not this month. A month is the minimum decent interval for NT seafood. The truth, of course, is that NT seafood should be celebrated daily, the way the fishers who catch it live it. A month is simply the Territory clearing its throat before saying what it’s always known: this is the best of us. Eat it like you mean it.” John Susman AM – NT Seafood Ambassador

Territorytaste.com.au/ntseafood