Interview with Alf Ness regarding the history of the Australian fishing industry
Date21 April 1990
Object numberANMS0871[016]
NameInterview
MediumCompact disk and tape
Copyright© Murdoch University
ClassificationsBorn digital media
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Murdoch University
DescriptionA recorded interview with Alf Ness of Tugun, Queensland. The interview is part of a series titled 'History of the Australian Fishing Industry'. It contains information on early years, Alf Ness' entry into fishing, beach boats; areas fished; makeshift trawling; prawns, Shark Bay, Exmouth; hand wining, aerial spotting, uncontrolled airspace, lack of factory capacity, refrigeration, spoilage of product, facilities at Karumba, the Norman River, conditions in the gulf, problems of isolation, food prices, prawning season, mother ship, survey of gulf, skipper of trawler, dual licences, Gulf of Carpentaria prawning, navigation, nets, banana mud boils, Mornington Island, American prawners, Florida flyers, increase in boats, return to east coast, back to the gulf, revival of banana prawns, size of patches and decline in catches.HistoryAlf Ness has been fishing for almost 30 years, having started his career in fishing in 1959 from beach boats. He has also trawled in Shark Bay and Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia and has fished in the north Queensland mackeral fishery as well as being engaged in CSIRO surveys and research.
For some time he fished in the northern rivers and nearby shores for barramundi but it was his experiences in the Gulf of Carpentaria prawning in the early and boom years of that industry that formed the main part of this interview. In regard to that fishery he gives an outstanding insight into the problems and methods employed and the successes and failures experienced there. He deals with many issues including prices, staff problems, lack of facilities, weather and health problems in the Gulf and later in the interview, also discusses the problems and pressures confronting the east coast prawn industry including marketing difficulties, management failures and increasing competition from aquacultured product.
This recorded interview with Alf Ness is part of a larger series produced as result of an oral history research project conducted by the Economics Department of Murdoch University and coordinated by Malcolm Tull. The project commissioned researchers in every Australian state to interview fishermen and others involved in catching, processing and marketing fish. Their research involved questions about daily work, personal memories of life in the Australian fishing industry as well as questions about the economics of the industry.SignificanceThis collection of 150 recorded interviews is significant in providing a comprehensive record of commercial fishing from the 1950s to the 1990s across Australia.
