Trawlers are akin to trucks on water. They’re big, require skilled drivers at the wheel capable of handling often challenging operating conditions, and are essentially vehicles for moving freight from A to B. They’re also arguably the most critical player in the supply chain that delivers Australia’s world-class wild-caught seafood ultimately on to your lunch or dinner plate. ROADBOSS follows the journey from ocean to plate with award-winning Mooloolaba Fisheries
“They’re just like a truck on water mate,” deckhand “Fish” bellowed over the roar of the trawlers’ 450hp CAT 3406 TA engine as he took a well-deserved break from the intense work involved in setting the boat’s booms and nets a couple of kilometres off the Mooloolaba coast.
“You’ve got to be able to drive them, know how to handle ropes, be an engine mechanic, a refrigeration mechanic, a jack of all trades,” he says.
They’re just like a truck on water mate. You’ve got to be able to drive them, know how to handle ropes, be an engine mechanic, a refrigeration mechanic, a jack of all trades.
Old-school truckies might bristle at the comparison. But the 36-year-old – who started life as a deck hand at 17 – has a point.
At 19.9 metres long, five metres wide and weighing in at 100 tonne fully laden with 18,000 litres of fuel, trawlers like the “Learmonth K” aren’t much different in size to a typical semi-trailer.
As we experienced first-hand on our day aboard the Freemantle-built vessel, they also require highly skilled skippers at the wheel, not just to navigate the ocean’s equivalent of our pothole-riven roads and highways – the tides, currents and swells – but amateur boaties clogging up the seaways, in this case a yachtie blocking the at-times treacherous coastal bar leading into the entrance of Mooloolaba River as we head back home.
Trawlers are just trucks on water – and at 19.9m long, 5m wide and weighing in at 100 tonne fully laden with 18,000 litres of fuel, the “Learmonth K” isn’t much different to a typical semi-trailer
And just like a truck, the main purpose of these “trucks on water” is to carry freight from source to customer as quickly as possible; for the “Learmonth K” it’s a hull full of around 280 boxes of snap-frozen Eastern King Prawns and bug tails destined for retail and wholesale customers on the Sunshine Coast and further afield across Australia.
The similarities end there, though. While truckies might bemoan long stints on the road delivering freight intrastate and interstate, “Fish” and “Learmonth K” skipper and owner, Jamie Vallance, have just returned from a sleep-deprived two weeks straight at sea.
Travelling 30-40 miles off the coast of Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, they chase prawns and Moreton Bay bugs for two-three weeks at a time – or “until they run out of fuel and food”, says Jamie, a veteran trawler skipper who had his licence at the tender age of 21.
I’ve been fishing all my life and know nothing else.
Unlike the trucks of today – full of modern comforts and conveniences – trawler fishing is intense, back-breaking work.
For both skipper and deckhand there’s little automation to make their jobs easier; helming the boat, finding, catching and boxing their prey is a largely manual process involving huge nets hauled by rope winches and large net drums or reels – manually set often amid rolling ocean swells in the dead of the night.
But for both Jamie and “Fish” this is the only life they know. As well as the freedom of life at sea, the returns – for both skipper and deckhand – can be lucrative, especially in a still reasonably healthy fishery off the Queensland coast where Jamie has worked his trade since 2009.
“Learmonth K” skipper and owner, Jamie Vallance, left, is a veteran trawler skipper who had his licence at the tender age of 21
“I’ve been fishing all my life and know nothing else,” says “Fish”, as he rips off his Queensland State of Origin jersey to show us the tattoo of his first trawler “Elizabeth G” inked across the breadth of his chest.
There’s also the flexibility the life provides in between the exhausting trips.
For “Fish” it’s heading out west camping in his prized Landcruiser while Jamie is off with a group of mates on a trip to what’s described as arguably the best surfing destination on earth – the Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra, Indonesia.
The other key to supplying fresh seafood is to know what you’re going to do with it so you can jump on it straight away.
For now, though, time for some much-deserved rest and recreation – and maybe a few super fresh Mooloolaba prawns washed down with a cold beer or two!
From ocean to plate
For Mooloolaba Fisheries, the “Learmonth K” – and other boats like it – are a critical link in its quest to deliver the freshest, wild-caught Australian seafood both to its own retail markets on the Sunshine Coast as well as other retail and wholesale customers throughout Australia – and beyond.
With origins stemming back to the original Mooloolaba Fisheries Co-Op in 1982, the business is renowned for the Mooloolaba Prawn – arguably the sweetest and most succulent in Australia.
Returns – for both skipper and deckhand – can be lucrative, especially in a still reasonably healthy fishery off the Queensland coast where Jamie has worked his trade since 2009
More recently, Mooloolaba Fisheries has also carved out a lucrative market as Australia’s only processor of wild-caught Southern Bluefin Tuna – highly sought after by sashimi chefs nationally and internationally.
A recent shipment was even air-freighted to the United States where it was to be served up 48 hours later on the plates of high-end restaurants in New York and other parts of the country.
Its “unwavering commitment to quality, sustainability and customer satisfaction in serving up the finest fish and chips” was recognised in the 2024 Queensland Seafood Industry Awards where one of its three retail outlets, Fisheries on the Spit in Mooloolaba, was recognised as the best take-way fish and chips joint in the state. Mooloolaba Fisheries was also a finalist in the Large Business Award category.
We’re all about supporting 100 per cent our wild-caught fisheries in Australia. Because we have to, otherwise we’re going to lose them.
CEO Paul Schenk says the trick to delivering ultra fresh wild-caught seafood is simple: catch it as quick as you can, get it in as quick as you can, and process it as quick as you can. Crucial to this is developing strong relationships with fishermen.
“It takes time to find the right products and build trust with the fishermen. Paying the right price, and paying on time, is critical to building that trust,” he says.
“We’re all about supporting 100 per cent our wild-caught fisheries in Australia. Because we have to, otherwise we’re going to lose them.”
The award-winning Mooloolaba Fisheries is renowned for supplying the freshest wild-caught Australian seafood sourced directly from fisherman such as Jamie Vallance
In operation since 2009, the “Learmonth K” has been supplying Mooloolaba Fisheries with delicious Mooloolaba Prawns for the past 12 years.
The equivalent of giant fish factories, the prawn trawlers not only catch the seafood but also ensure its freshness by snap freezing and boxing the catch out at sea – locking in all that goodness straight away.
Back at the wharf, a human chain – involving skipper, deckhand and staff – shifts the boxes from deep in the trawler’s hull on to pallets and into Mooloolaba Fisheries giant freezers, before they’re dispatched to its three retail markets at Mooloolaba, Noosa Junction and Point Cartwright using a fleet of Isuzu utes and trucks – or onto other retail and wholesale customers intra- and interstate.
It takes time to find the right products and build trust with the fishermen. Paying the right price, and paying on time, is critical to building that trust.
“The other key to supplying fresh seafood is to know what you’re going to do with it so you can jump on it straight away,” Paul adds.
The value add
When Paul Schenk joined the business two years ago he was struck by the waste. And he sensed an opportunity – informed by his career as a high-level chef both in Australia and overseas.
Starting out on Daydream Island as a 16-year-old, he worked his way up to the Hyatt Regency Coolum, and from there had spells on the Gold Coast before going overseas to Oman, Dubai and Seoul.
Fresh and processed seafood is dispatched to its three retail markets at Mooloolaba, Noosa Junction and Point Cartwright using a fleet of Isuzu utes and trucks
In his six years in Seoul, Schenk was in charge of one of the largest hotel and beverage operations in the world, with 650 chefs in his team. He also had his own show on Korean TV.
“I didn’t like throwing fish heads in the bin. In Seoul, where I ran 26 restaurants, in one of them we sold the snapper head for $36 back in 2004. We couldn’t get enough, there was so much meat in the head,” he recalls.
Bringing what owner Gary Heilmann describes as a “unique skill set and a different approach” to the business, Paul has cast the Mooloolaba Fisheries net much wider by pioneering retail portion seafood and expanding into retail packaged seafood.
I didn’t like throwing fish heads in the bin. In Seoul, where I ran 26 restaurants, in one of them we sold the snapper head for $36 back in 2004.
At its clinically clean seafood processing facility on the Mooloolaba wharf, a team of chefs and kitchen hands expertly fillet fish, peel and even skewer prawns, slice and crumb everything from fish fillets to calamari, and cook salmon for packaging into “ready to cook” meal portions.
Today, Mooloolaba Fisheries pumps out 10-15,000 portions of wild-caught seafood per week, predominantly fish and prawns.
The product line Paul is most proud of, though, is its burgeoning tuna range. Employing unique cold (and odourless) smoking technology, and a technique developed by “the best sashimi chef in Japan”, the company processes wild-caught tuna sourced from around Ulladulla and Eden on the south coast of NSW into different cuts suited to different markets.
CEO Paul Schenk, pictured above left, has drawn on his career as a high-level chef both in Australia and overseas to expand the business into portion-controlled and packaged product lines
Uniquely, the process – developed by the former owner of the Noosa Junction Seafood Market specifically for the sashimi market and commercialised by Mooloolaba Fisheries – enables it to hold the colour and texture of the meat when frozen. It also extends the shelf life to 14 days.
Rather than getting around $35/kg for the whole unprocessed fish, some of the best cuts demand up to $100/kg. Toro, for example, which refers to the fatty part of the tuna’s belly, and Otoro, which refers to the fattiest part of the belly, is highly sought after by sushi or sashimi chefs around the world.
“I see that in the future everyone will be using the technology as it helps pay the fishermen more for his catch by using more of the fish and not just picking the eyes out of it. We process the lot,” Paul says.
And every day I get to work from what I reckon is the best office in the world overlooking the beautiful Mooloolaba River.
Being “nimble” is central to the company’s success. “I can tell immediately if we can do something due to my background as a chef. I can have samples and a price within a week,” he adds.
While these days there’s little waste – with even heads and frames and other remnant pieces used in Mooloolaba Fisheries’ extensive range of seafood chowders and bisques, fish stocks and curry sauces, there’s one thing he has yet to come up with a use for: fish skin.
Given the volume of fish processed by the business, it’s a massive waste stream and one he’s obsessed with hauling in. Paul has tried everything, from smoking to frying into some sort of salty snack. Nothing’s worked so far.
Today, Mooloolaba Fisheries pumps out 10-15,000 portions of wild-caught seafood per week, predominantly fish and prawns
But it’s challenges such as these that drive Paul Schenk these days. After rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the world – from prime ministers and presidents to celebrities such as U2, the Rolling Stones and Black Eyed Peas, songbirds Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga and Rihanna, as well as legendary Formula One racing driver Michael Schumacher – during his time overseas, the Ipswich born and Sunshine Coast raised boy is in his happy place.
“It’s just so awesome to be back home surrounded by family and friends. It just feels so right and so comfortable,” he says.
“Overseas I had people doing everything for me, but back here I’m working hard, I’m very hands-on, and I’m very honest with everybody. And every day I get to work from what I reckon is the best office in the world overlooking the beautiful Mooloolaba River.”
