Australia Exports 70% of Its Seafood and Imports 70%. Heidi Walker tells us why.

Why is it easier to buy imported tuna in an Australian supermarket than tuna caught off our own coast?

Heidi Walker, co-founder of Walker's Seafood and Walker's Tuna, explains why. Australia exports about 70% of the seafood it catches and imports about 70% of what it eats. Local fishers pay Australian wages and Australian fuel prices, and they compete against subsidised foreign fleets fishing the high seas with few rules. The country also has no scaled seafood canning facility left.

Heidi and her husband Pavo started with one of the oldest wooden tuna boats on the East Coast and no experience. They built Australia's largest wild-caught tuna company and became the first Australian tuna business to earn MSC certification. Now Walker's Tuna is the first Australian MSC-certified tuna stocked by a major supermarket, and it is in every Coles in the country.

This episode is proudly presented by Seaway Logistics, local experts in global trade.

In this episode:

Why imported tuna dominates Australian shelves, and what it costs to send one boat to sea ($70,000 a trip) The last tank of fuel and the recycled fishing line that saved the business How one swordfish for George Calombaris started a direct-to-chef strategy What MSC certification actually proves, and why "line-caught" or "small boat" doesn't automatically mean sustainable Creating a preserved albacore with Neil Perry, packed in Australian cold-pressed olive oil Why the product is made in Thailand, and why that isn't a compromise The proposed marine park that Heidi says could push Australians toward more imported fish About Walker's Seafood and Walker's Tuna

Walker's Seafood Australia is a family-owned wild-caught tuna and swordfish business based in Mooloolaba, Queensland, founded by Heidi and Pavo Walker. It started with one old wooden boat and now runs four vessels in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery, supplying chefs across Australia and exporting to the US and Japan.

In 2015, Walker's became the first Australian tuna company to achieve MSC certification, the global standard for sustainable wild-caught seafood. Every boat carries 24/7 cameras and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority monitors them.

Walker's Tuna is the company's preserved range: Australian albacore in Australian cold-pressed olive oil, sold in jars and foil-lined pouches and developed with Neil Perry. It is the first Australian tuna stocked by a major supermarket, and it's available in every Coles nationally, around 200