After 74 years’ service and millions of tonnes of seafood processed the Clarence River Fishermen’s Co Operative has listed its River Street Maclean premises for sale.

Clarence River Fishermen’s Co Operative CRFC Chief Executive Officer Danielle Adams said the Co-Op was formed in 1945, and by 1949 it was established in the former premises of the Maclean Cooperative Dairy Company, where it has continued to trade for the past 74 years.

For the past few years, Ms Adams said discussions had been ongoing about relocating to a modern, purpose-built premises, and given the current situation with White Spot virus, the CRFC board decided the timing was right to list the property.

“It has become a costly exercise for the Co Op in maintaining an old building and to be able to meet the long-term requirements of our community and our fishing fleet and we are better off looking at moving to a purpose-built, modern factory operating current technology on many fronts, including being more energy efficient,” she said.

“The board determined given the White Spot situation we need to protect the longevity of the business, to support our 90 commercial fishers and future proof our business model to adapt with the challenges that arise out of our control, and now was probably the best time to offer the premises for sale and move on to the next chapter.”

While a new site is yet to be determined, Ms Adams said the CRFC had several locations in mind, and they may relocate to an industrial area such as Townsend.

The sale of the premises at 51-55 River Street will not impact any of the Co Op’s outlets at Iluka or Yamba, Ms Adams said, which will continue trading as usual, and the CRFC are also looking at opening a retail store in Maclean.

“We will still have chandlery, the only question mark we may have in the future will be whether we retail fuel, which will depend on the location where we end up,” she said.

Another motivation for the sale, Ms Adams said was the development of the ‘River Glen’ estate behind the CRFC site, featuring 148 large residential lots, 22 elevated town houses and seven duplexes.

“We are sitting on a parcel of land where we are a seven day/14-hour business amongst a residential area and we feel once that starts and more and more people move in, our truck movements and operations may be impacted,” she said.

Although the White Spot control order had prevented fishermen earning an income for the past 18 weeks and has impacted the Co-Operative’s ability to meet their markets demand for green school prawns, Ms Adams said the sale of the Maclean premises was not because the CRFC was in financial trouble.

“We thought we’d be congratulated in being strategic to future proof the business, yet many feel the need to denigrate or downplay what we feel is an exciting direction the Board of the Co-Operative has initiated the steps to undertake,” she said.

“This challenge with White Spot has made us question the impacts we can’t control and how we need to adapt our business model,” she said.

“Investing a lot of funds back into a very old and aging facility doesn’t seem like a strategic move on our part, making the smart and hard decision to sell and relocate, in our opinion, is.

“We will replicate the functionality that we have here at Maclean, there is no plan for us to downsize the business, we will still maintain all the wholesale facilities that we do, we’ll still maintain our export and value adding to products.

“We’ll continue to employ locals and contribute towards the local economy. We’re not going anywhere!

“We will just be operating in a more modern, efficient facility that doesn’t require a lot of continual maintenance into the future.

“The goal is to make sure that we continue to function and represent our shareholders, value add to their product, move their product all over Australia and Internationally.

“We just need to be smart and strategic about how we do it moving into the future.”

The CFRC’s Maclean premises are listed with Warren Tucker at Yamba Valley Real Estate.

Expressions of interest on the premises close on June 30.

For more information visit https://yamba-valley.com.au/listings/residential_sale-3659301-maclean/

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 24 May 2023.