Deputy Premier Troy Grant announced the plan on Friday, saying it would support the seafood industry by promoting locally sourced products in an age when 85 per cent of seafood eaten in NSW was imported.

At present fresh seafood must be labelled by country of origin but restaurants and food outlets that prepare or cook their fish for immediate consumption do not need to admit anything about where the food has been sourced.

Wollongong restaurateur Lorenzo Pagnan said the move was “a great idea”.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” he said.

“Restaurants have to take more responsibility. It’s like any industry – there should be some regulation to make the public aware that it’s the real deal, that they’re not being hoodwinked.”

There has been a growing awareness among consumers and the food industry about the poor seafood industry practices – from pollution and suspect by-catch to slavery and child labour – in some international fisheries.

Top restaurants which usually insist on Australian produce will be happier to implement the change than smaller, cheaper restaurants which rely on a difficult-to-identify mix of frozen seafood products for many of their dishes.

“Seafood caught in NSW is among the highest quality and most sustainably caught in the world – and we want to make sure that all customers have the knowledge to choose our top-quality NSW products over cheaper, imported fish,” Mr Grant said.

“I think most consumers would be shocked to know that 85 per cent of the seafood they eat in NSW is imported - and an origin-labelling scheme would help them to choose a local product and support the local industry.”

Pagnan said good restaurants would not have a problem with the plan, as their menus would be regularly updated and they were likely to be using only Australian fish by choice.

“We deal with Harley and John’s, the fishmongers at Fairy Meadow,” the chef said.

“They go direct to the Pyrmont fish markets and they’re told where it’s from.

“We only buy Australian fish on principal”.