The industry is facing a labour shortage, with many crew opting to work in the mining sector for significantly higher returns than are available from the fishing industry. This results in skilled crew moving away from the fishing industry, with labour shortages being filled by inexperienced crew which leads to safety implications, a high crew turn over, and less efficient fishing operations. Consequently, fishers are looking for ways to find skilled crew, in a timely, cost effective manner, to reduce down-time resulting from crew shortages.

The current cost-price squeeze has an additional impact on fishing operations, as fishers are forced to spend more time advertising, training, and managing crew shortages at a time when many fishers are already facing significant income reductions. The WA Fishing Industry Council has also recognised the need to identify a career pathway for employees in the fishing industry to improve employment opportunities, and this web page program would assist with linking the career pathway with these employment opportunities in the fishing industry.

The employment web page project was initially funded by the Western Rocklobster Council, however funding to the Council has been decreased due to a reduction in the value of the GVP of the fishery, consequently, further funding is not available to projects outside of the core business of the Council under that revenue stream. This application will assist with providing the funds for increasing awareness and use of the web page by employment agencies, as well as technical support for updating the website to accommodate addition fisheries at a later date.