Lakes Entrance Fishermen’s Co-op

Lakes Entrance Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Limited (as it was previously known), now Lakes Entrance Fishermen Limited, moved to its current site on Bullock Island in 1968. The original Co-Op was located on Harbeck’s Jetty in the middle of town, but as the town grew so did the need for a larger, modern unloading facility. On Bullock Island the Co-Op had room to grow. Two jetties fitted with conveyors send the fish bins from the boats into the veranda area. From those conveyors the fish are weighed and labelled then sent via another conveyor to be covered with ice and stacked onto pallets. The pallets of fish are then wrapped and put into cold storage, until they are loaded onto trucks to be dispatched to their various destinations.

The third jetty at the Co-Op is for our fuel. Here we supply diesel fuel to the fishing fleet and private vessels. We also have an on-land fuel pump to supply out transport contractors.

There are several fishing methods utilised by the local fishing fleet – Danish Seine, Board Trawl, Inshore (prawn) Trawl, Octopus Trap, Gill Net, Long Line, Scallop and Line Fishing. The Co-Op and fishing fleet are continually striving to further improve our operations to better our industry and support our local community. 

Lakes Entrance Fishermen’s Co-Op provides a full-service unloading facility to the local fishing fleet. From here, fresh seafood is distributed to local shops and restaurants and further afield to the Melbourne Seafood Centre & Sydney Fish Market. At the Co-Op we process the seafood to be sold at our fresh seafood outlet “Off The Wharf”, as well as supplying other outlets in our region. Some of the more popular species are – flathead, whiting, gummy shark, prawns, scallop, crabs, duck fish and octopus, but there are many more. Our overwater café and ramp to a larger viewing platform are currently under construction, opening in 2023.