Rock lobster fisher Clay Bass has revealed that the largest rock lobster fishing boat in Australia has been launched.
“It’s on the water now and the sea trials have all been finished. The next step is to fine-tune the electronics.”
“12 months it took to complete from start to finish. We are hoping that when the new season (in mid-January 2019) commences, it will be fully operational,” he said.
The building of the boat saw local businesses also getting involved, greatly benefiting the regional, Mid-West community.
“The boat was designed and constructed all by local businesses. The aluminium hull was built in Geraldton which was then trucked down to Dongara where the wheel house, engineering, hydraulics, plumbing and wiring was all completed in Port Denison.”
“It’s the largest lobster boat in Australia in terms of beam and capacity – the length stretches to 24 meters.”
“24 meters is generally the longest that most lobster boats go to because of the manning and survey requirements.” Clay said that upsizing was a no-brainer as they needed a vessel capable of carrying more live product.
“The boat can hold up to 200+ crates of lobster which amounts to in excess of 6 tonnes.”