With plans to onboard more brands and fisheries, the Australian company is profiting from its sustainability and traceability investments

Environmental stewardship and responsible best-practice have always been at the heart of Austral Fisheries’ operations. What’s newer but equally-integral to the Australian company’s business is storytelling. Dylan Skinns, General Manager Sales & Marketing tells WF. “It’s enabled us to showcase our strengths in wild-caught seafood, the investments we have made in our fisheries and operations, while also providing the market and some of the world’s leading chefs with products that set their restaurants apart,” he said.

Austral has interests in deep-sea fishing, most notably in the sub-Antarctic for its iconic Glacier 51 toothfish, and also closer-to-home in Australia’s Northern Prawn Fishery, which hails its premium-branded Skull Island Tiger Prawns and Karumba Banana Prawns. Underscoring the company’s sustainability credentials, all four of the Australian Commonwealth fisheries that it operates have been independently certified as sustainable and well managed by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), while in 2016, it became the first seafood company in the world to become certified as carbon neutral, doing so under the Australian Government Carbon Neutral Program. In helping offset its carbon emissions, the company has so far planted more than 3 million native trees in Western Australia.

CEO David Carter led this sustainability charge, Skinns explained. “He’s always been forward thinking and years ahead of the curve. David said several years ago that sustainability is our north star, that the big corporates were going to want to make sure the fish they’re buying comes from sustainable sources. Probably 15 years ago, he said let’s strive to have all of our fisheries meet the MSC standard. Let’s go down that track and get our fisheries certified, starting with the toothfish.”

Today, in the toothfish fishery, Austral’s fleet is led by the technologically-advanced, 68-metre Cape Arkona. Introduced in 2020 and operating alongside older sister, the longliner Isla Eden, this highly efficient and versatile vessel is also equipped for potting and trawling, with its catches processed and frozen onboard to maximise freshness and value.

It was the first vessel in the world made capable to operate three different gear types. The reason for this, Skinns said, is that while longlining is the best method for catching toothfish, when predators such as killer or sperm whales turn up, they can take as much as 70% off the lines, so the vessel switches to trap to continue fishing. It is also then able to fish for icefish and also undertake an annual scientific trawl survey on behalf of the Australian Government to sample juvenile toothfish and icefish, providing vital information for fish stock assessments.

“We’ve got this flexibility built into the boat. So, if the whales do get out of control in five- or 10-years’ time, we’ve got a boat that we can still compete while the rest of the industry only longlines. The vessel is future-proofing our fishing operations.

“Dave Carter also calls it the [Toyota] Prius of fishing vessels. It has this kind of battery bank onboard, where it can operate on battery only when alongside. We don’t use it during steaming or fishing, we still need full power for that, but when the boat is alongside at our port calls for up to a week, we use the battery power then. We like to think it’s our first foray into that area.”

Meanwhile, a new diesel-electric vessel, Austral Odyssey, is under construction in Poland and will join the fleet and replace Isla Eden at the start of 2026.