Fisherman

Navigating the waves of Lakes Entrance fishing history

Dennis Shepherd has been an integral part of the Lakes Entrance professional fishing industry since he arrived in the town as a youngster in the mid 1950’s.

He was born and went to school in North Sydney but moved to Lakes Entrance with his mother and her husband. His stepfather skippered a 50-foot timber hull at Lakes Entrance as a professional seine fisherman and Dennis followed in his footsteps throughout his life.

He was employed by his stepfather as a deck hand earning five percent of the catch. Wages were very poor in those days, not helped by the fact that the catch was also barely sufficient. As a result, Dennis only spent two years on this boat before looking for better money on other boats, again as a deck hand. He fished for a further three years on various boats targeting crayfish and shark, earning his stripes and absorbing information and experience from the old pros.

Dennis was keen to go out on his own and put into practice what he had learned, so he teamed up with Peter Heffernan and they built a 50-foot Danish Seine Trawler, called ‘Ballina Star’. It arrived in Lakes, and they trawled out in it targeting flathead and morwong together with other mixed species. They also caught good numbers of school whiting but at that stage, the price of this species was quite low. This later changed when the Japanese market opened up.

The whiting were immediately snap frozen at the Lakes Entrance Co-Operative and subsequently shipped to Thailand for processing. Labour was very cheap in Thailand at that time and their processing factory had the largest cold storage facilities in the world. From Thailand the fish were graded and sent to Japan. The Japanese were very fussy about their fish. They expected them to be graded into various qualities, size and other requirements.

In the early days, the fishing boats were mostly wooden and powered by diesel motors. The motors from the 50s and 60s were basic compared to modern motors and operated at much slower speeds. This caused problems entering and exiting the notorious Lakes Entrance Bar. When entering the port at Lakes, it was an advantage if the boat could maintain its speed between the waves. If they couldn’t, the boat risked being picked up by a following wave and dumped on its side. Likewise, going out, the boat ideally needs to exit before a new set of waves arrive, otherwise a big white wall of water can break over the boat with disastrous results. This entrance was one of the most dangerous entrances to the ocean in Australia. On average one person died at this entrance each year in its first 100 years.

One of the most dangerous things about the bar was entering the port with a full load of fish. Professional fishing boats need about two metres of water when the entrance is flat and calm. The entrance in those early days, was only a little above this figure. As a result, it was common for loaded boats to bounce in over the entrance with the propeller often churning up the sand. Sometimes this caused the boats to breach and there was a real risk of them overturning. Skippers were always nervous when entering and leaving port. Despite some close calls, Dennis never had a major incident.

After about eight years, with business quite strong, the two partners decided to build a second boat named ‘Minawie’. It was built in Mordialloc by the famous Pompei Bros. The vessel was powered by a 220HP motor, which was considered a very powerful motor at the time. This was another wooden boat with a length of 56 feet and would be a seine trawler with all modern » gear and fittings. These two boats operated out of Lakes Entrance for many years before Dennis’s partnership with Peter was dissolved in the 1980’s. Following the breakup, Dennis retained the Minawie and operated until 2000 when he sold it and retired.

"In the 1950’s, when I first set foot on a trawler, it was often cold and wet, the hours were long, nothing was questioned, including safety…but now most things have changed for the better and I love my continued involvement with the industry that I've been part of my whole life."

In the late 1990’s, conditions on professional fishing boats were quite basic. Typically, facilities included a Primus Kerosene one burner stove used for cooking for the three fishermen on board. There was always a limited amount of fresh water, which was stored in 44-gallon drums that needed topping up whenever the boat was in port. A shower was not an option; personal washing consisted of a small dish of water. Bedding was a horsehair mattress with an ex-army blanket to keep the cold out. Sheets were an unnecessary luxury. The toilet consisted of 120 feet of the perimeter of the boat. To attend to their toilet needs, the crew hung over the hull and grasped the rigging, hanging on for dear life. It paid to be quick especially in a big sea. Trips were generally one to two days duration, and it was an advantage if the crew could hold on until they returned to port. Trips were normally limited to one or two days as boats did not have ice on board and fish had to be taken and sold to the Co-Op before they went bad.

Technology has changed many things over the years. Navigation was a combination of compasses, sighting of landmarks and paper navigational charts. Lead lines provided a guide to depth and were used to assist finding various spots. Depth sounders were very basic also in those days and they were printed out on paper. These sounders used lots of expensive paper and consequently they were often turned off to lower costs. GPS and radar were a game changer when they arrived late last century as they allowed boats to return to productive areas without using guesswork and they were very accurate.

Weather forecasting has also improved significantly especially since satellites became available. Accurate forecasting of wind and weather has taken a lot of the guesswork out of fishing. Plus the added benefit of going to sea being a lot safer. Safety was never mentioned in the early days and there were a lot of mishaps and even loss of life. Today safety is of paramount importance, and accidents are rare.

Rev counters on boats were very important in the early days as they assisted in calculating distance travelled and speed. Ropes and netting were made of cotton and manila rope. They were replaced by synthetic which had the advantage of not rotting and therefore being longer lasting, cheaper and more reliable.

Food was very basic on boats as there was no refrigeration and cooking facilities were very limited. Tinned food was the mainstay. Bread and jam was popular. Cereal and dried milk was the go for breakfast and the crew soon got sick of eating fish. On one, fourweek trip to Flinders Island, they found that the available food on the boat was gone after two weeks. Consequently, Dennis and the crew lived on crayfish and mutton birds for the entire duration. He never had the inclination to ever eat a mutton bird again after that trip.

Since retiring in 2000, Dennis has remained very active and continues to be involved in the fishing industry. He has served on various advisory committees to the government on fishing matters and held directorships at Leftrade, Lakes Entrance Fishermen's Coop (LeftCol), Gippsland Seedlings, Consolidated Fishermen of Australia and other fishing related committees too numerous to mention.

In the 1950’s, when Dennis first set foot on a trawler, it was often cold and wet, the hours were long with little and uncomfortable sleep while navigating in the dark with lights often not working, fogs, gales and storm-forced winds accompanied by the crossing of a continuously changing shallow bar.

Nothing was questioned when he was young including safety. Conditions were not great compared to these days, but now most things have changed for the better and Dennis loves his continued involvement with the industry that he has been involved with for most of his life. gl