The Elusive II lobster boat cuts a white swathe through the steely grey waters off Warrnambool in Victoria’s West. Fifty-five-year-old Garry Ryan powers down the boat and sidles her next to the breakwater. Onboard is deckhand Ryan Bell and their catch of just over 100 southern rock lobsters.
Read MoreGeorge Brocklesby is fixing his boat. The ever-smiling San Remo lobster fisher closes a hatch in the cabin of his fast purpose-built boat Hanna Ann G. “You have to be a jack of all trades in this business,” says George. “You are always repairing pots or splicing rope,” he says.
Read MoreWhen Dayle Pranskunas was a three-year-old girl she watched her mother head off to sea to work on a scallop boat. “I just wanted to be like her,” says Dayle. “It seemed like the most adventurous way of making a living.” When Dayle was 20 she landed a job as a deckhand on a scallop boat working out of Port Welshpool in South Gippsland. “It was brilliant.
Read MoreLobsters were regarded as "poor man's food," and there was no established market for the crustacean until they were canned and sent to feed the troops during World War Two. The American troops developed a taste for our lobster, and an export market into America began after the war ended and the fishery boomed. The lobsters were caught by fishermen from local Co-ops, and the lobster tail meat was sent to be canned by seafood processing companies for export.
Read More
