It’s early on a late winters’ morning. The sun has just peaked over the horizon and we’re about 45 nautical miles off the coast of Port Douglas, the weather is warm, the wind is down and it’s the start to another day, in what Ashton Davenport calls his office.
As a commercial fisherman, Ashton is on his regular 5-week milk run across the reefs of the Coral Sea, scouting out the best places for his prized catch, Coral Trout. “We get some really good sizes up here, sometimes up to 4 kilos”. Sent to market for live export, these delicacies end up on dinner plates around the globe – whether it’s a short trip to Hong Kong, or a little further afield in high end restaurants in LA.
Ashton is proud to showcase our beautiful produce here, “it’s great to see that these fish I catch here are being enjoyed so far away”.
A fifth-generation fisherman, Ashton learnt many of his skills as an apprentice deckie for this old man “I have been helping on the boat since I was five years old when I did my first trip during my school holidays. I have spent a lot of holidays on the boat, driving and mooring it under my dad’s supervision and helping him to maintain it. I completed a coxswain course while I was at high school and when I finished Year 12, I started working with my dad full time as first mate.”
Wanting to take on the family business on his own, Ashton finessed his skills at the Great Barrier Reef International Marine College in Cairns, helping him round out his knowledge with a Certificate III in Marine Operations; skills he puts to good use every day.
Equipped with modern training facilities such as a specially built immersion pool for survival training, tug bridge simulator, chart room and the crown jewel in the training centre – a state of the art, mission bridge to simulate real-world environments – here anything from the type of vessel, weather and tides can be dialed in.
“The simulator is excellent. It was good to have access to hands-on facilities and practical scenarios as it helps to clarify all of the theory. The teachers are like walking maritime encyclopedias, they know what they’re doing and they’re really knowledgeable.”
