ABALONE DIVERS RELAXING, MALLACOOTA HOTEL (1967)
Archive for August 24, 2009
ABALONE DIVER’S BOAT – IN PERILOUS POSITION (1966)
In the early era of professional abalone diving, small boats served the purpose. As income improved it didn’t take the boys long to spend money on larger and faster vessels. The 14 foot Tradewind with 40 HP Evinrude shown above is still in use today (2009) by the original owner, but not for abalone harvesting.
AUSTRALIAN ABALONE DIVERS – 1967 Pictures
(Top) Clarke Espie featured in Everybody’s magazine “High Stakes at 16 Fathoms” (1967); Abalone shellfish galore at 15 meters near Tathra NSW; Bob Grounds shucking the catch (1965). The selling price was about sixty cents per kilo probably equal to $6 per kilo today. A fraction of the price abalone sells for in 2009 as each shellfish is roughly worth $50.
(Below) Clarke Espie after 40 minutes dive time at 20 meters near Mallacoota and two bags of abs; Weighing the catch at Mallacoota (Victoria, Australia) wharf, (both 1967).
Abalone diving regulations in New South Wales were years behind those in Victoria. As a consequence tiny abalone were ‘harvested’ which ruined the future of the industry. Tathra was a base for many southern divers. The clever ones went further south. Some went broke others made fortunes.
