Who we are

Marcus and Michelle Gray entered the fishing industry in 1989 with the dream of a ‘sea change’.  They purchased their first vessel, “ALOMA”, purse seine net, license and essential equipment to give it a go. They played a major role in developing the sardine fishery in Esperance. They both worked in their professions while developing the fishing business, Marcus in his auto-electrical business and Michelle worked as a pharmacist.  The existing fish processors in town did not have the capacity to process the catch so another challenge came their way. Start their own processing or stop fishing. They worked out of rented premises before building purpose-built facilities in 1993 and 1996.

It has grown to be the business it is today, now including their son David and his wife, Sandra and three grandchildren.

In the early days the catch was processed mainly as tuna food, petfood and angling bait.

Their aim was always to produce sardine fillets for human consumption. Success in receiving a Regional Economic Development grant in 2020 allowed this dream to be fulfilled. Southern Sardines is now producing retail and wholesale packs of butterfly-filleted sardines.

What we do

Esperance is located on the south coast of  Western Australia with the most pristine coastline and waters in the world. Our fishing vessel ventures out to harvest the freshest tastiest sardines you could ask for, the sardines are kept in excellent condition aboard the boat in an ice slurry in insulated bins to ensure the highest quality product.

Once the sardines have arrived back at the fish factory they are ready for filleting where our great team of workers get the job done. The sardines are processed through a filleting line and a “butterfly fillet” is produced then packed into wholesale cartons and retail packaging ready to cook and enjoy.

Our Fish Trapping vessel and her crew brave the cool waters offshore here in the southern ocean to bring you the quality silver flounder products….

The silver flounder (ocean jacket) are gathered out of the fish traps and immediately trunked and iced to ensure the quality of the product.  When the fishing vessel arrives in to port, the insulated bins of iced trunks are transported to the fish factory where they are hand filleted and packaged ready for sale.

Purse seining for sardines

The top of a purse seine net has floats and the bottom has weights attached that pull the walls of the net downwards.

The bottom of the net has a rope threaded through it which is pulled and tightened the net like a purse, trapping the fish inside.

The net is then pulled in toward the boat and the catch is lifted out with small nets or pumped aboard.

The purse seine method of fishing is very selective as it targets only one species at a time. This means that there is minimal impact from purse seine fishing on other marine species. Purse seine nets are set near the ocean surface and generally do not touch the sea floor, so their impact on the marine environment is also very small. Using the purse seine method the whole catch is kept alive and swimming until they are brought aboard the vessel, which means that the fish can be released at any time in good health.

Fish Trapping for silver flounder

Fish traps are weighted at the bottom so that when set, they land on the sea floor the correct way up. Traps are baited so fish will be attracted to the scent of the bait and swim through the entrance. The traps are designed in a way to minimise the fish escaping once inside the trap.

When set, traps are connected to a downline which is bridled at the end and attached to the trap at opposite ends. The downline is connected to a buoy on the surface, allowing us to locate the traps.

Fish traps have a minimal impact on the marine environment, with low levels of bycatch and interactions with protected species being rare. Fish which have been caught in traps are alive when they reach the surface, which in the event of catching a non-target species or size fish they are returned to the sea in good health.