Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative's online Members' meeting was held on Thursday, 4th May.

Your Co-operative Update: 

GFC CEO Matt Rutter welcomed Members on the call and handed over to Leith, Glen and Bryan to give a Member update. The main points are summarised below;

• Matt shared with Members that in addition to the standing Member and Market update, Glen Davidson would be joining the online meeting to give an update on bait availability;
• Matt spoke about the team's recent European trip to meet with retailers and attend the Barcelona Seafood Expo. See below for more information.

Member Services;

Leith Teakle, GM of Member Services, gave Members an update from the Member Services team. The main points are summarised below;

• Leith gave an update on the GFC Member App, an update has now be rolled out which resolved an issue some Members were experiencing with long loading times in the App. With the issues now resolved, fishers are asked to use the App to enter their daily trips. Leith thanked Members for their patience with these teething issues. If Members are experiencing any further issues with the App, please contact Alison Walker on 9965 9010:
• Leith gave an overview of the South Australian Member Tour planned in July. If you were thinking about attending but haven't gotten in touch yet, RSVPs have been extended to this Friday, 12th May;
• Leith shared with Members that nearly 70 RSVPs have been received for the Member's Ladies lunch in Geraldton (this week) and Fremantle (next week). For more details, refer to the article below;
• Members that use the Bigpond mail service provided by Telstra have been experiencing issues receiving CDR forms and online Member meeting links. Leith shared that, unfortunately, these issues are related to the Bigpond mail service, and there is nothing GFC can do to help Members overcome the issue. Leith encouraged Members to open a Gmail or other free e-mail service as a workaround to the problem; 
• Season 2023-24 license renewals are expected to be mailed out by DPRID to license holders this week. This has traditionally been the trigger to kick off lease negotiations for the coming season. Leith encouraged Fishers and Quota owners to continue to consider shared risk arrangements in what is still an uncertain lobster market;
• DPIRD has confirmed with GFC that the kilograms per unit and license renewal fees for the 2023-24 Season are as follows:

Bait Update;

Glen Davidson, GM of Supply Chain Operations, gave Members an update on bait supply. The main points are summarised below;

• Glen shared with viewers that the availability of certain bait lines remains challenging. In particular, Hoki heads and Orange Roughy. Glen and the team have recently secured some additional containers of this stock, and this should be available to Members shortly;
• Glen spoke in detail about some reasons for the challenging availability of the more established or popular bait lines used by Members. There is a trend in the industry to export the product overseas for processing and human consumption;
• Glen shared with Members that the Jack Mackerel line continues to have good availability and year-round supply, and this is a good alternative bait line for Members to consider. Conversely, pork flare supply from GFC's existing supplier will pause as they fulfil a backlog of export orders. Glen stated that a new supplier of pork flare had been secured from over East, with shipments to commence this week;
• Glen mentioned to Members some plans to improve the bait ordering process and share the real-time availability of stocks within the Member App. Further information on this will be shared with Members at a later date.

Market Summary;

Bryan Keay, GM of Trade and Business Development, gave Members a market update. The main points are summarised below;

• Bryan shared some market development highlights from his team's trip to Europe, including visiting significant retailers and other customers in the United Kingdom and France and attending the Barcelona Seafood Expo. Some common themes from European retailers included sustainability, animal welfare and food safety. Refer to the article below for more information on this market visit;
• Lives sales as a percentage of sales have been higher this year, and market demand has picked up around May Day activities in some export markets;
• Bryan shared that some of our WA competitors are offering lower prices for frozen products in some markets, which could have an impact on the market prices come December and January;

Intake and Sales Summary;

• Intake has continued strong, with a record intake through March and April. Furthermore, Bryan shared we are now tracking ~2% above the 5-year average catch pace.

• Bryan believes live prices should be well supported in June if the catch rate remains at this level.

The next Member online meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 25th May 2023, at 4 pm. The meeting link will be sent to Members via email before the meeting.

If you have any questions or topics you'd like addressed in a future meeting, or if you want to discuss the above summary further, please contact one of the Member Services team.

European Market Visit Wrap Up 

The GFC trade team attended Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona in late April.

Seafood Expo Global is the world's largest trade expo for the seafood industry. It has reached a record in exhibit space, the number of exhibiting companies and total attendance for its second year in Barcelona. Over 33,000 buyers and suppliers from the global seafood industry came to the event, 24 per cent more than in 2022.

GFC participated in the show under the Seafood Industry Australia's "Great Australian Seafood" pavilion with 14 other Australian seafood producers. GFC was the only Australia lobster exporter in the Australia pavilion.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, the trading team also stopped in London and Paris, where meetings with major UK and French retailers and wholesalers were held.

Encouragingly, with the Australia-UK free trade agreement set to come into force in June, retailers and other customers are showing increasing interest in progressing discussions with GFC. 

GFC Member Ladies Lunch

We've had a great response from Members and staff to the Ladies' Lunches in Geraldton and Fremantle. 

Late last week, we sent an email confirming the event details. If you have already RSVP'd but didn't see the email, please see the links below;

Geraldton Lunch event details

Fremantle Lunch event details

We look forward to seeing many of you this week in Geraldton and next week in Fremantle!

Western Rock Lobster Fishery Updates

Setose Arrangements In Effect

Members are reminded about setose catch arrangements, which come into effect from 1 May until 31 October.

Whilst retaining setose catch is permitted during this period, any species of lobster carrying eggs (berried females) or western rock lobsters with tar spots are protected. Processors and registered receivers are permitted to possess and sell setose western rock lobster all year round, provided they were taken legally (i.e. taken and landed between 1 May and 31 October).

Refer to the Western Rock Lobster Council's email for more information. 

Draft Harvest Strategy Discussion Paper 

The Western Rock Lobster Council has recently been provided with the 'Review of West Coast Rock Lobster Harvest Strategy and Control Rules 2014-2019 – transitioning to ARMA – Discussion Paper'  and Aquatic Resources Management Regulations 2023 (Draft Regulations) by DPIRD.

The Council is seeking your feedback on these documents currently open for consultation with the industry. The Council intends to collate member responses to these documents and provide an industry position on each document in late May. 

Please refer to the Council's email here to review the documentation and provide your feedback.

• First Bite;  Your CEO, Matt Rutter talks about the importance of MSC's sustainability certification for market development. 
• Second Bite; Western rock lobster celebrated during Shore Leave festival 
• Third Bite; Deputy Premier and Tourism Minister, Roger Cook declares, Western Rock Lobster "Rocks"

Shore Leave Wrap Up

Shore Leave Festival has wrapped up for another year. 2023 was bigger and better than previous festivals, with more people attending dining, tours and free events than ever. Once again, Western rock lobster featured prominently in the programming, everything from luxurious long table lunches at the Abrolhos Islands to GFC Member Justin Pirrotina selling lobsters from the back of his boat.  

GFC was a presenting partner to the festival and also presented the Beach Price markets on Saturday, the 29th of April. At the Beach Price markets, we had lobster viewing tanks which attracted a constant stream of on-lookers throughout the day.

The team at Brolos Fresh made a great trade at their seafood stand, and Luke finished the day off with a fish fileting demonstration at the Beach Price Kitchen.

The live lobster factory tours were another huge success, with tours selling out and people contacting us right up until the morning of the tours, trying to secure tickets. Our Lives team did a great job of taking curious members of the public through the factory to learn what happens behind the scenes after Members consign their catch.

Be *shore* to check out our Shore Leave highlights album on our Facebook. Many thanks to everyone in the GFC family that attended various events or were involved in GFC's activities throughout the festival programming.  

Shore Leave continues to grow each year, and it's an excellent opportunity for us to engage with the community and further people's understanding of our cooperative and the WA rock lobster fishery.

Design Our Truck Project

To celebrate a 20+ year partnership between Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-operative and our sustainability partner, the Marine Stewardship Council; we’re looking for primary school children to show off their artistic abilities and help design one of our trucks!

Primary school students, teachers and parents are encouraged to get involved and submit a truck design by the 3rd of July that will inspire the design that will go on one of our trucks and be seen by thousands of motorists daily.

We will pick our three favourite submissions that will be used to inspire the design that goes on the side of the truck. The finalist from each school will receive a $500 art supply voucher for their school.

Members with children or grandchildren that might be interested are encouraged to download a colouring-in form or get more information about the project on our website.

LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 8

Congratulations to our weekly prize winners:

Round 6 - Cruel Sea
Round 7 - Leith Teakle
Round 8 - paul217

Apologies to the weekly winners who have not received their prizes yet. We have been waiting on new stock to arrive which should be available this week. We will be in touch with you all soon. 

REMINDER: Your $50 entry fee is now due, please contact Alison at GFC Geraldton Reception on 9965 9010 to organise payment