Formation of a NEW Co-operative
Several trawler owners got together and were determined that the above problems could mainly be overcome by providing a cool storage facility, an assured ice supply and the establishment of a co-ordinated and orderly marketing system. Hence, the Lakes Entrance Fishermen’s Co-operative Society Limited, known as LEFCOL, was incorporated on the 21st August 1964.

A new plant was built on Bullock Island and included unloading jetties, conveyor belts to the weighing and icing area, cool room, ice making machine, ice storage room, ice delivery equipment and administration offices. The cost of the new facility was approximately $160,000 and the premises were officially opened by the Honorable Sir Henry Bolte on the 23rd October 1968/

Operations
The commencement of operations at Bullock Island ushered in a new era in the handling and marketing of fish. Because there was an assured ice supply, rules were introduced to ensure that all fish were adequately ices at sea. Hygienic plastic fish bins were provided by the Co-operative instead of the wooden fish boxes previously supplied by agents. After consultation with buyers and fish agents, daily catch quotas were set to minimise over-supplying. The new jetties and conveyors provided more convenient and faster unloading facilities and, for the first time, all fish were weighed when unloaded. Once the fish were weighed they were immediately re-iced and stored in a refrigerated cool room.

All of these changes resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of fish consigned to market. It also left fishermen free to concentrate on fishing and to leave the problems of marketing, freight and ice production to the Co-operative.

Fish Processing and additional plant
A fish processing section was added to the Bullock Island plant in 1974. This provided and additional outlet as fish caught in excess of market requirements were processed into frozen fillets. These were then sold when fish supplies were scarce.

In 1979 a second ice maker was installed, the unloading area extended, a public viewing area provided and a truck loading bay enclosed. Further extensions, comprising a Gear Store, Seafood Supermarket, Canteen, Workshop and new Administration Offices were completed in 1982.

In 1986, the processing area was extended and an additional blast tunnel installed, as well as a large holding room for the storage of frozen product.

The Co-operative’s processing area is registered with the Department of Primary Industries as export premises. Frozen school whiting has been exported to Japan since 1969 (prior to 1986 it was processed in the now non-existent Heinz processing factory next to the Co-operative). In recent years, the average exports per year have been 200 tonnes, with the majority now being sent to Thailand. This figure is well below our full potential mainly as a result of the continued strength of the Australian dollar.

The measures the Co-operative and its members have taken over the years has led to a high reputation and commitment to freshness and quality and as a consequence, have been able to meet the very stringent Australian and overseas export quality standards.

Operations today
Lakes Entrance is situated in the most strategic position of the very large South East trawl area of Australia, which stretches from the Victorian/South Australia border around to the Northern New South Wales and includes Tasmania.

The Co-operative has established itself as one of the most important voices in the Australian Fishing Industry and the largest (fleet and throughput) fishing co-operatives in Australia. Through diversification, several other organisations have been formed to provide additional revenue streams as well as providing top quality investments.

Leftrade Limited operates a Seafood Supermarket, known as “Omega 3”, which allows the wholesale and retail sales of a large variety of locally caught seafood, together with a variety of other seafood products which are purchased in from other sources to widen the range available. To cater for the tourist trade as well as many surrounding hotels, motels and restaurants, Omega 3 is open 7 days a week, 364 days of the year (only closed Christmas Day) and is situated at Shop 5, Safeway Arcade, Lakes Entrance.

Through the advantages of bulk buying techniques, Leftrade Fishermen’s Gear Store stocks a large variety of store items for its members as well as other professional fishermen all around Australia. At any one time, the store stocks between $300,000 and $350,000 worth of gear and has had up to half a million dollars worth due to the many different fisheries and requirements which must be catered for. These products are also available to the general public who are welcome to come in and browse through the store and inspect items such as ropes, netting, wet weather clothing, boat maintenance equipment and recreational boating needs. The store is located at 20 Carpenter St, Lakes Entrance.

Leftrade also provides a distillate fuel supply for all vessels. Considering that fuel is one of the major overhead expenses of a fishermen’s operation, this management provides a means of competition to ensure that they pay a fair and reasonable price for their fuel. We currently dispense approximately 3 million litres of fuel per year through a computerized system which utilises tokens to allow boats to obtain fuel 24 hours of the day. In Lakes Entrance, in addition to this, approximately 2 million litres is sold to members at other port locations around Australia.

Facts and Figures
The Co-operative:

• Operates 2 flake ice making machines which produce 36 tonnes of ice every 24 hours. Storage space is 60 tonnes.
• Currently has 73 shareholder members.
• Has 2 blast freeze tunnels with a capacity of 32 tonnes and a large holding room which holds 100 tonnes of frozen product.
• Services between 80-100 fishing vessels.
• Handles over 80 different species of fish, the most predominant being flathead, school whiting, trevally, morwong, shark, gurnard, orange roughy and blue grenadier.
• Employs 20 permanent and an average of 40-50 casual staff.
• Handles approximately 4.5 million kilos of fish per year.
• Is the largest supplier of all the fresh fish to the Melbourne Wholesale Fish Market and a major supplier to the Sydney Fish Market.

Types of fishing
There are various methods of fishing used by fishermen operating out of Lakes Entrance:

Danish Seine Trawlers – There are 11 Danish Seine trawlers operating out of Lakes Entrance and these boats can fish up to 100kms out into Bass Strait, as far as Point Hicks to the east and Port Welshpool to the west. The fish are caught by means of a winged net fastened in the middle of 2 kms of heavy rope. The net is dragged along the bottom of the ocean and the wings of the net force the fish into a long funnel-shaped bag called the ‘cod end’. The main catch is flathead and school whiting.

In most other ports, the predominant types of trawlers are Board trawlers, but this is not the case in Lakes Entrance, where Danish Seiners tend to be more popular due to their lower overhead costs. The nature of the local sea bed and the establishment of the school whiting export market has also enhanced the operation of Danish Seine trawlers.

Otter Board Trawling – 5 Board trawlers currently operate out of the port. The method of fishing is different to Danish Seining, however basically the same type of fish are caught, the one main exception being school whiting which is almost exclusively caught by Danish Seiners.

Board trawlers also tend to concentrate their fishing operations in deep waters and accordingly catch more morwong, ling, blue grenadier and other deep sea species than do Danish Seiners. The net is towed by 2 wire ropes and, fixed between these ropes and the net, are paravanes (commonly known as boards or doors). Unlike the Danish Seine net which closes and stops fishing after about 2 minutes of towing, the board trawl net remains open and may be towed for any length of time, although it is rare for tows to exceed 4 hours.

Board boats can stay out at sea for 5 – 7 days, whilst Danish Seiners, commonly called ‘day trawlers’, usually fish for a maximum of 3 days.

Mesh Net Boats – Five currently fish for shark and trevally using mesh nets made from monofilament nylon. Fish are caught after swimming head first into the net and the nylon catches them behind their gills. They cannot go forward due to the mesh being too small, nor backwards due to the restriction of the net behind their gills. Boats are usually out at sea from 3 – 5 days. The principle types of shark caught are gummy and sword and a high percentage of the trevally landed is by this method.

Lake Boats – Inland lake fishing (which has been a limited licence fishery for some time) is carried out extensively in the Gippsland Lakes, mainly by small owner/operated boats. These boats use mesh nets to catch bream, mullet, skipjack, flathead, luderick and a variety of other species.

Cray fishing – Caught in the summer months. Large cane pots are baited and lowered to the bottom in rocky areas. The crayfish crawl down the funnel in the top of the pots after the boat and are unable to escape. Crays which are caught are kept alive on board the vessel in tanks until unloading. Depending on the catch rate and weather, these boats may remain at sea anything from 2 to 14 days.

Scallop Fishing – There are approximately 15 to 20 local scallop boats operating out of Lakes Entrance, but in the season, up to 80 boats arrive from other ports to take part in the harvest. Scallops are caught by means of a metal dredge varying in width from 2 to 4 metres long. The tows normally extend to 20 minutes duration and then the dredge is brought on board the boat into a specially designed tipper from which the scallops spill onto a sorting tray. They are then checked for size for eventual consignment to processing factories.

Purse Seining – This type of fishing is used to catch salmon, anchovies and pilchards and, as the name implies, the net is like an old fashioned purse with draw-strings. There is currently only one purse seiner operating out of Lakes Entrance.