Fishing Effort and Export/Import Seafood

[Lovey80]

Today I did our families usual pilgrimage to my cousins Prawn trawler to pick up the supply of Christmas prawns.

Talking to him he said that the Co-op/fisheries at Mooloolaba had offered him only $13 Dollars a Kilo for quality mid sized kingies caught last night. That same place is selling direct to the public at $35 a kilo. Now if that isn't a price gouge I'd hate to see what is.

This got me thinking about fishing effort that these guys must have to do around this time of the year especially considering the full moon around at the moment usually doesn't help when catching prawns. With all of the gov't regulations and fast rising costs of operating these days it must make it tough. On top of that Australia just became a net importer of seafood a couple of months ago.

With Australia having one of if not the largest productive coast lines per capita in the world should we have a need to import any seafood? I mean of course we catch enough seafood to supply ourselves with more than enough but yet we seem to be exporting all the good stuff and importing all the crap from overseas. If you do want a good feed of locally caught seafood the consumer pays through the nose.

I can't help but wonder should the government be doing something to restrict our seafood exports so that the regular population can afford to buy our own seafood? I mean with out overseas demand riding heavily on what the Australian consumer pays surely the consumer and the guy doing the real work are going to be better off and possibly in turn reduce the fishing effort?

I am all for a free market but this is getting out of control.

Like to hear your thoughts?

cheers

Chris

[PinHead]

$13 to producer to $35 to consumer...that is not too bad. Have a look at the poor ol dairy farmers and other primary producers. farm gate to retail is a vast difference.

Unfortunately the importation of seafood is all to do with trade agreements..they buy some ofo ur products..we buy some of theirs. The joys of the world market these days.

[Sevric]

Hi Chris,
I can surely sympathise with your cousins plight. As a young man i saw the writing on the wall when as a pro i would see the Snapper i had just been paid $5 a kilogram for tipped straight from my fish bin into the display window of the Co-Op where the sign said $20 per Kilogram. I left the game in the early 1980s reasoning that the wealthy Pro fishermen had all made their money many years before. I have since stood back and watched many hard working pros many of whom have had their life savings tied up in trawlers and licences go to the wall ending up bankrupt at the hands of cheap imported substandard prawns. Farmers are the same; it is sad to see this country's hard working class farmers (ocean or land) taken to the wall over cheap imports probably instigated by the major grocery chains driven by profit.
As an individual i boycott cheap imported sea food, fruit and veggies but in the end it comes down to the dollar and some people just do not have it to be as choosy as i have become.

[Lovey80]

$13 to producer to $35 to consumer...that is not too bad. Have a look at the poor ol dairy farmers and other primary producers. farm gate to retail is a vast difference.

Unfortunately the importation of seafood is all to do with trade agreements..they buy some ofo ur products..we buy some of theirs. The joys of the world market these days.

You think that's not too bad when all he does is wheel them
Out the front and stick them in the window? I don't think that the milk comparison justifies the price gouge. On both aspects the producer should be looked after better.

My point wasn't so much about the price gouging as the effect on the consumer and the resultant "effort" that the producer must put in to make a dollar and the roll on effect to our fishery.

Maybe I am wrong and am not seeing something here but if there was a little regulation on the exporter ( we all know how much regulation is on the producer) which said that only a certain percentage of our seafood could be exported then surely that would somehow bring down the prices for consumers? Maybe that would work adversely for the producer with lower returns or maybe the local seafood industry would need a remodel. I don't know but I thought it would make an interesting discussion?

[sandbankmagnet]

I grew up on a fruit farm and we would only get a quarter of what the public were buying the fruit for. Markets doubled what we got then the retailers doubled that.

The money would be where he could establish his own retail outlet for the prawns.

[Aussie123]

$13 back to the fisherman from his local co-op is totally disgusting.
Christmas,Easter and school holidays is when the prawn fisherman make those extra dollars to help them through the quite times.
Not knowing what size boat he has,engine HP,net size and type of nets his towing as well as water depth worked but he would be using anywhere from $500 to $1000 worth of fuel for the night plus deckies wages,oil costs,insurances and general wear and tear on the vessel,engines,electronics and fishing gear he would be flat making any money unless he was catching at least 150kg of king prawns a night plus a bit of by-catch.
Local fisherman and markets should be looked after before any imports are allowed.
If I was that fisho I would have told the co-op to get their fresh local prawns from else where and I would have sold every last prawn privately.
This time of the year they should be getting at least $25kg for fresh local ocean king prawns.

[Lovey80]

Ok guys we have established that it is a rip off but what can be done about it. We as consumers should be just as pissed off knowing what he paid and what you are paying. Then to see on the news tonight the huge line out the front of people waiting to be served.

I'd like to see a few opinions from people on the thoughts of restricting the exports so there is more for our market and hence lower prices and the flow on effect of that on the fishery?

[Steeler]

Seems to me the issue is with the co op.

You start trying to meddle in trade agreements and it will come back and bite ten fold.

Can you guarantee under your proposal it will lead to lower prices and not higher prices.

[Lovey80]

Just opening it for discussion and like to hear some ideas. But my reasoning behind that idea or thinking I should say is I guess that by restricting the export there are less overall mouths being fed from the same resourse which is basically artificially reducing demand and hence the price we pay as we are competing less for the same amount of product.

I guess that in turn would put downward pressure on the producers prices also. So a lose lose situation for the fishery.

[Russ B]

I think we need to look at not the macro ecenomics but the microecenomics. We need to stop thinking that bigger is better. Some of the best buys for seafood come from not the co-ops but the little guy. Trawler operators selling direct to the public. Seafood that has not been frozen and sold right from the back of the boat. Sure there is a place for co-ops but there still needs to be fishermen willing to sell their catch from the back of their boat. This will not suite all fishermen but just today I saw one trawler return to dock and yes I know it was christmas eve but marketing using the internet he was able to let people know he had prawns to sell and he sold out. As he does most weekends. His prices are fair but cheeper than most retailers and they are fresh. Instead of going to the co-ops and cutting out the middle man we as the consumers get a better deal and the trawler operator has a better bottom line.

[wayno60]

I dont know for sure how many of the southport prawn guys are doing it but some sell thier prawns straight to the public. In the local rag they told you where the best buys were and the trawler guys were $5.00 cheaper than peters seafood market right next door..he was selling kings for $33.00 kg

[fisher28]

the thing about selling the prawns straight off the back of the boat is that if the local co-op gets a bad set on them ,and then will not buy the bigger amounts of prawns that the guys cant handle themselves.unfortunatly trawling in my opinion is a dead job.Any primary producer cannot pass his rising running costs on,i catch bait and we get roughly 5 bux a kg,you guys pay 5 bux for 200g.i know they have to pack and freeze em but it seems a huge markup to me.and when we do get a 50c increase you nearly have to kiss their feet!!

[tunaticer]

I went down to Cabbage Tree Creek to buy direct from the trawler on Thursday and paid $25/kg for cooked frozen Gulf prawns. Seeing the fresh produce was already pre-ordered there was no alternative. The trawler I had lined up for the sale did not come to shore until the next day as his catch was not larger enough for his presold orders (including mine).
Talking to my mate that owns his trawler, he stated that because the season has been lousy here in SEQ a lot of the operators had bought tonnes of frozen gulf prawns and shipped them down for the Christmas demand over the past two months.
I cant blame the trawlers for doing this as they have to make their money when the demand is hot and not having enough product for the demand is bad for them in many ways.

Unfortunately most Co-ops that market the prawns for the trawlers are making the money, even though it is the trawlers themselves who own shares in the Co-op they use. The Co-op does not feed back moneys from profits to the trawlers, only pays them per kg for their product.

The only solution I can see for the industry is if we all increase our demand for the seafood outside of the demand periods line xmas and easter so that the farmers can in effect get a better turnover of product all year round and not have to rely on peak periods for survival.

Selling direct from the trawler requires more than just a dock to sell from. You need accurate calibrated scales and an environment that meets the safe foods practices act. That alone set my mate with his trawler back nearly 5k to adhere to. More costs and less profits you could say.

[pescados]

Quote: $13 to producer to $35 to consumer.
And some say :that's not too bad

Tell me this, Why should the Co-0p get $ 35 a kilo when the guy who gets $ 13 a kilo does all the hard yakka ,

Admittantly some people can't afford to pay the higher prices, unfortunately sooner or later when the fishermen, farmers etc have been forced to leave what they did than everybody might have to pay higher prices for lower quality products.
Support local producers before it is too late and they are gone because they won't be back.
I prefer to pay a higher price for local produce than produce from overseas where in some cases the fertilisers leave a lot to be desired.

[PinHead]

Quote: $13 to producer to $35 to consumer.
And some say :that's not too bad

Tell me this, Why should the Co-0p get $ 35 a kilo when the guy who gets $ 13 a kilo does all the hard yakka ,

Admittantly some people can't afford to pay the higher prices, unfortunately sooner or later when the fishermen, farmers etc have been forced to leave what they did than everybody might have to pay higher prices for lower quality products.
Support local producers before it is too late and they are gone because they won't be back.
I prefer to pay a higher price for local produce than produce from overseas where in some cases the fertilisers leave a lot to be desired.

simple answer..cos the public pays that price. If people are prepared to pay a price for something then that is the price..market forces.

[Jarrah Jack]

The price of crayfish has halved around here because the Chinese have some sort of embargo on Aussie crays. Price is around $50 a kilo now. I think prawns are much better value though.

[theoldlegend]

Yeah I saw that Terry.

Seems the Chinese got their noses out of joint over something.

The Co-op at Iluka certainly doesn't win any friends price-wise with the blow-ins like us when we go there. Strangely, the same Co-op over the other side of the river at Yamba where the trendies and the lartay drinkers live, well it's even dearer there.

The locals seem to know when the specials are on though.

Caught up with some mullet netters one year and asked if they had any fresh mullet. Yeah mate as much as you want. Fifty cents each. Now that's not bad.


TOL

[FNQCairns]

For the first time ever and as a treat we bought a cray for Xmas the price because of the recent chinese politics made it 'just' worth our while.

Also bought a side of King crab...pretty cool feed to experience and not that expensive all things considered.

We buy the cheap coles green banana prawns, overall seafood are too high we have a fishery that is bunta (like most other countrys), more supply in season than demand but the expected/typical cost keeps the average family from including seafood once every week as part of their diet.

[NAGG]

Hi Chris

Seafood and beef ...... we export our best - Its the reality of producing high quality products when people in other countries ( usually SE asia ) are willing to pay virtually any price.
As a farmer / fisherman ..... they have the choice as to where the produce will go - Sell it locally for a price or sell it overseas for a substantial profit (if they meet the standards expected).

Chris