It’s not uncommon to hear Port Lincoln’s crew of Kiribati fishermen burst spontaneously into song while at work.
Their sweet-sounding harmonies are reminders that despite being naturals on the water, the community of seasonal tuna industry workers have brought more than much-needed fishing expertise to Australia’s seafood capital.
The 82-strong crew from the Micronesia sub-region of the Pacific Islands spend nine months of the year in the Eyre Peninsula town where South Australia’s $120 million tuna industry is concentrated.
Teraaka Toaraoi says he doesn’t struggle with homesickness because the tuna industry feels like home. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Amelia Costigan)
Kiribati seasonal worker Teraaka Toaraoi says the experience is mutually beneficial for the Australian and Kiribati employees.
“It’s kind of quick when they show us how to do it, we learn it quickly because back home we’re fishing, so fixing something like nets, we know how to do it, how to tie things, we do it,” he said.
“We really like working here because it’s the same as back home. We go early in the morning, we come back in the afternoons, same as back home.”
The workers were first brought to Port Lincoln two years ago under the the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme after the local fishing industry struggled to recruit backpackers and other transient workers.
Kiribati and Port Lincoln both rely on tuna
As a seafaring community with seafood as their primary food source, the Kiribati workers were a natural fit for the industry, which was struggling to recruit workers following the pandemic.
Australian Fishing Enterprises had 82 workers from the Pacific in 2024, making up 70 per cent of their farm workforce.
They are the largest exporter of southern bluefin tuna in Australia, controlling about 45 per cent of the available quota in the fishery industry.
Amasone Rutetee, from Kiribati and on his second seasonal stint working on the tuna farms, said Port Lincoln was beginning to feel like home.
Seasonal worker Amasone Rutetee says he feels welcomed by the Port Lincoln community. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Amelia Costigan)
“In Kiribati, we don’t have anything, there’s some jobs but no future. Now working here, they always encourage me to earn much and provide for my family,” he said.
“It’s not like a big city, but you know everyone already, it’s a good place.”
Australian Fishing Enterprises workforce consultant Richard Dawe said working with fish is natural for the Kiribati men.
Richard Dawe says it is amazing to hear the Kiribati crew singing. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Amelia Costigan)
“They have an affinity with the ocean so working on the water every day is natural for them,” Mr Dawe said.
“Everything they know already they bring in, and they gain experience here in the way we do things, and they take what we do back home and use that in their daily life too.
“The guys are always smiling, they’re really happy and a harmonious workplace is an efficient workplace, so that works really well for us.”
Port Lincoln’s tuna industry had been struggling with workforce shortages since the pandemic. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Jodie Hamilton)
South Australia’s aquaculture industry was valued at $264.4 million in 2022-23, with all of Australia’s southern bluefin tuna farmed in waters off Port Lincoln.
Despite being one of the smallest countries in the world, Kiribati has a large ocean territory and boasts one of the most productive tuna fishing grounds in the Western and Central Pacific, and tuna is one of the largest sources of revenue for the nation.
Pacific culture on Eyre Peninsula
While Port Lincoln’s population of about 15,000 people is home to several multicultural groups, there is no major Pacific Islander presence.
So it was a treat for the community when a group of the Kiribati men performed a traditional song and dance at a community concert recently.
A group of the Kiribati men with Port Lincoln Mayor Diana Mislov. (Supplied: Diana Mislov)
Their powerful baritone harmonies brought a touch of the Pacific to the Eyre Peninsula, according to Port Lincoln multicultural council president Diana Smith.
“It was absolutely beautiful,” she said.
“Our industries are very much geared towards exports here, we have a lot to learn from other countries, and so I think it’s really worthwhile for us to take time to learn about different cultures and languages.”
Kiribati workers make up 70 per cent of Australian Fishing Enterprises tuna farm workforce. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Amelia Costigan)
Mr Dawe said it was amazing to hear the men sing.
“It does stir a bit of emotion in people,” he said.
“It builds camaraderie, our skippers and our senior crew have really bonded well with the Pacific workers and developed really good relationships, so they get along really well and that brings a harmonious workplace.”
