Thomas Breeze hooked on the fishing industry
Octopus deckhand, Thomas Breeze, was recognised for his enthusiasm and passion when he was presented the WA Deckhand Award at the 2021 Western Australian Seafood Industry Awards.
The award category is sponsored by Fins Seafoods.
The Awards event, recognising excellence in the WA seafood industry, was held at The Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle and opened by Minister for Fisheries Hon Don Punch MLA in front of a large audience of industry participants and seafood representatives.
Thomas Breeze is a deckhand on board FV Ramblin Rose II, an octopus fishing vessel based in Two Rocks. Whilst Thomas is relatively new to the industry, Skipper Philip Thompson, said that Thomas was a great asset to the business and had contributed to increase productivity while always showing eagerness to carry out boat maintenance. Thomas is renowned for encouraging colleagues and demonstrating interest in learning new skills. Not surprisingly, Thomas plans to continue to develop in the industry with a goal to obtain his commercial skippers ticket.
WA Fishing Industry Council CEO, Darryl Hockey said passionate people like Thomas Breeze were the foundations of the seafood industry.
“Thomas has demonstrated an ongoing passion, commitment and a willingness to take on challenges that make a positive contribution to the seafood industry. Due to his enthusiasm and sustainability-conscious work ethic on deck, he was awarded for his efforts and will continue to develop as an effective and respected seafood industry member,” Darryl said.
The Deckhand Award, is a WA-only accredited Award. This award has been established to recognise and reward the contributions and achievements of those at the coal-face of our industry.
“As an industry body, we recognise the importance of acknowledging those individuals and organisations who make a substantial contribution to benefiting our industry, and Mr Breeze is certainly a worthy recipient of this award,” Mr Hockey concluded.