Wanna Mar Aboriginal firm in Port Lincoln venture with Stehr Group: southern bluefin tuna industry first
Wanna Mar's Pauly Vandenbergh and Stehr Group's Marcus Stehr, looking forward to working on their joint venture involving a quota of 25 tonnes of southern bluefin tuna.
Images courtesy Wanna Mar and CSIRO
Wanna Mar, a 100% Aboriginal-owned commercial fishing company, created a first for Australia's southern bluefin tuna industry in 2021 by joining a venture with major fishing company Stehr Group at Port Lincoln on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
The Stehr Group, one of Australia's largest southern bluefin tuna producers, had been involved in the $130 million industry for 50 years. Stehr’s alliance with Wanna Mar (meaning “sea food” in Mirning and Wirangu languages) arose from a chance meeting between Pauly Vandenbergh, then working for the Australian Football League club Port Adelaide as Aboriginal programme director, and "tuna king" Hagen Stehr, head of the Stehr Group and chairman of the Maritime Fishing Academy.
Their discussion about opportunities of Indigenous people in the fishing industry led to Vandenberg “talking about who my people were and the connection to the Eyre Peninsula and just how much sea country means to us as a community”. The Wanna Mar and Stehr joint tuna venture idea grew from there.
Wanna Mar was enabled by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, funding one its first aquaculture projects, with a $3.5 million grant. This allowed Wanna Mar to buy a quota of 25 tonnes of southern bluefin tuna for traditional waters in Eyre Peninsula region.
As part of the new venture, Wanna Mar fishermen would go out and catch the tuna under the supervision of Hagen Stehr’s son Marcus, the Stehr Group's managing director. The tuna would be brought back to the pens to be fed and fattened for market. Wanna Mar would work with the Stehr Group on selling their part of the quota.
Pauly Vandenbergh said Wanna Mar was an example for future projects and getting more Indigenous people into the industry: "A big part of working with Stehr's is the training aspect and one day maybe have our own boat that is managed by a full Aboriginal crew under the watchful eye of someone like Marcus. For years, Aboriginal people have stood on the shore and watched the tuna fishing boats pass through our country and fish in our waters. We are proud to be partnering with Stehr Group to change that."
