Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Greater Geraldton - Issue No.: 785 Issue Date: 20 May, 2024

Guest Speaker Peter Brown formally introduced by Clark Scarff.

Introduction: Born and bred in Geraldton and then moved to Perth to attend the University of WA. Completed a Bachelor of Commerce and worked in the accounting field for 6 years.

He then started working in the family business, Mitchell and Brown where he still does some work.

During his time at M&B the company purchased the Westnet Internet business. This part of the business was moved to Perth in 1999 and eventually sold in 2008.

Peter has travelled extensively, raised a family and managed the family’s rock lobster business. He has been fishing in A & B zones for the last eleven years.

The built a new fishing boat called Ohana which means ‘family’ in the Hawaiin language.

The boat was completed in 2015. They employ a skipper and two crew. Peter does not fish but looks after the business side of the operation.

Peter Brown: Describes himself as new to the fishing industry but has always been interested although he is from a non fishing background. He says the industry has changed significantly since he first became involved 11 years ago. The main change has been about the industry going to a quota system.

He says the average yearly catch across the industry is now around 6,000 tonnes, this is down from the 12,000 of several years ago.

At the time of quota discussion and debate an A zone pot cost roughly $18,000, nowadays it is likely to sell for around $80,000.

The industry is becoming investor based with most product finding its way to China although the processors do look at other markets. One challenge is that the overseas market is not necessarily transparent.

It is a healthy and well managed industry with research being conducted by people who are passionate about the industry.

There continues to be debate around the size of RL’s being caught.

Another aspect of the industry that continues to change is the size of the fleet. It is down to around 200 total vessels from a high of 600+ in the last century.

This also has the effect that there aren’t as many people in the service industries to the fishery.

Bigger boats are now the norm with some capable of carrying up to 180 pots, this is likely to go to 200 with boats being designed capable of carrying those numbers.

Peter believes that technology hasn’t changed dramatically this century, the introduction of the Fish Eye app is slowly being adopted.

Leasing pots or quota is also a big issue. In PB’s opinion leasing should be a shared income to account for fluctuations in the market.

Apart from the fishers, other significant players in the industry are the WA Dept of Fisheries and the Western Rock Lobster Council.

The industry is managing environmental issues very efficiently with issues such as whale entanglements now very infrequent.

Lastly PB sees the Abrolhos Islands tourism proposals as a positive thing for Geraldton and the Mid West. We need more industry but he sounds a cautious note saying that 80% of the time the winds make the Abrolhos a very challenging place to be.

Questions: Ian Johnstone (Japanese RL purchases); Dan Crisp (Blessing of the Fleet); Doc Taylor (Buying RL locally); Raj Mavath (Damaged RL’s); Ray Haynes (How are RL’s graded?); Tim Duggan (Is grading done at sea?)

Vote of thanks with Paul Pirratina, he claims descendancy from Italian fishermen … so do sardines!