This festive season has once again proven how incredibly popular Back of Boat lobster sales are with the Western Australian community. Demand has been stronger than expected and we are determined to continue to grow and improve this initiative and strengthen industry’s connection with local communities and tourism.
The WA community has overwhelmingly embraced the fisher-direct live lobster purchase option, with Back of Boat sales reaching a significant milestone this Christmas with 100,000 kgs of lobsters sold to the local community. At the same time, it’s really encouraging to see more and more fishers participating and connecting with customers in their own towns. Just over two years after its launch in September 2020, a total of 95 different vessels have landed over 113,500 kgs of live lobsters at 20 ports along the WA coast from Kalbarri to Fremantle.
Back of Boat has given industry an invaluable opportunity to engage directly with the community and to demonstrate its values and practices. WRL sees Back of Boat as central to establishing genuine relationships with the community, strengthening the understanding and connection to the fishery and building a sense of identity and pride in the world-class premium seafood product.
Some key findings for the Festive Period (December 2022):
- Almost 30,000 Back of Boat lobsters were sold to the community.
- Across the fishery, a total of 35 boats participated in the Back of Boat initiative.
- Key landing ports were: Fremantle, Two Rocks, Geraldton and Lancelin.
To improve the Back of Boat experience for both fishers and customers, WRL has created a new fisher/boat directory and an online ordering and payment platform on our new backofboat.com website. These new functions will make it easier for people to find a local fisher in their area and streamline the administrative process of buying lobster direct from fishers. So far, the response from the public has been extremely positive and the new site has been having a constant flow of visitors already, with 22,000 users and over 75,000 page views since the website was launched on December 5th.
While we are getting our fishers on board with the online ordering and payment system for Back of Boat, people can still order directly from their local fisherman via the fisher directory on the website.
The process is simple, head to backofboat.com and search for fishers in your area, get in touch to arrange pickup and price, then meet them with your esky and ice at the wharf where the boats pull up and collect the freshest, best value lobster.
We are grateful for the continuous support and interest we receive from the community, local businesses, media and local and state government as we continue to develop and refine this fantastic initiative.
