WAFIC seeks to give back to the community through direct support of its members.
Many of whom work in and make up a vibrant part of regional communities, and more indirectly through its involvement in community events such as seafood festivals, education programs and through environmental and sustainability initiatives.
WAFIC actively seeks to develop strong and lasting relationships that can foster greater understanding of the important role Western Australia’s professional fishers have played, and continue to play, in the history of our State.
We have both formal and informal partnerships and interests in education programs for primary, secondary and tertiary students.
Our members regularly engage in local community activities around the State: from participating in Broome’s Shinju Matsuri (Festival of the Pearl) and the Blessing of the Fleet in Dongara, to celebrating the Fremantle Seafood and Mandurah Crab festivals and working with other community members to clean up rubbish that collects along the wild coastline around Esperance.
WAFIC and its members regularly interact with other not-for-profit organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund and Sea Shepherd to protect our marine environment and to prevent illegal fishing poachers from the indiscriminate plundering of fish stocks.
And of course WAFIC is an integral part of the State Government’s $14.5million Marine Stewardship Council program – an initiative designed to achieve MSC certification for all of WA’s commercial fisheries: fisheries that are the collective property of Western Australia’s community.