Interview with Sandy Wood about the history of the Australian Fishing Industry
Date24 April 1990
Object numberANMS0871[076]
NameInterview
MediumCompact disk and tape
Copyright© Murdoch University
ClassificationsBorn digital media
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Murdoch University
DescriptionA recorded interview with Sandy Wood in Mooloolaba, Queensland as part of a series titled 'History of the Australian Fishing Industry'. It contains information on Sandy Wood's early years, his entry into fishing, the Gulf of Carpentaria, Shark Bay prawning, skippering trawlers, fishing companies, South Australia, the cost of licences, his return to Queensland, deep water prawning, inshore problems, fish trawling, opposition, industry support, yearly permits, self regulations, overseas competition, aquaculture, hazards from skipping, weather conditions, Mooloolaba prawning, fishing and prawning, major changes, movement of vessels, multiple fisheries, pressure on the gulf, vessels to Queensland, pressure on the Queensland coast, need for regulations, decline in control rates, policy input by industry and trawl whiting.HistorySandy Wood represents the new generation fisherman of Queensland. He entered the industry as a deck hand in the early days of the Gulf of Carpentaria prawn fishery and gained further experience in Shark Bay and Carnarvon before becoming skipper of large company vessels prior to acquiring his own boat. He now operates two vessels, one prawn trawling on the east coast of Queensland and the other fish trawling for whiting for the export market, the latter on a recently introduced yearly permit scheme.
In this interview, in addition to outlining his own career in the fishing, he discusses the pressure on the prawn fishery in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the consequent pressure on prawning on the east coast. He also discusses the need for regulating the industry and the question of competition from other sources of prawns.
This recorded interview with Sandy Wood 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 recorded interviews is significant in providing a comprehensive record of commercial fishing from the 1950s to the 1990s across Australia.