Mure family honoured for role as Tasmanian seafood industry pioneers
Tasmania’s Mure family has been recognised for their role as pioneers in the state’s seafood industry – and their commitment to its sustainable future.
Tasmania
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IT’S a simple recipe: hard work, friendliness and seafood served with a large helping of honesty.
Three generations of Mures are now running the family seafood business, and the original honest approach that started the dynasty remains at the heart of their trade.
The family was last week honoured with the seafood industry’s prestigious Ambassador Award, as well as three other awards.
It was fitting recognition of their significance as one of the pioneers in the industry and their commitment to its sustainable future – which, increasingly, relies on transparency.
When the late George Mure, who started the enterprise, first came to Australia from England in the 1960s, he got an early distaste for fishy tales when working in the industry in Melbourne.
“What are you using for snapper this week Con?” George recalled overhearing, and recorded in his book Fish Tales.
The young George was shocked by the “barramundi substitution racket”, how scallops could be soaked in water to increase their weight by 30 per cent and how cheap North Sea whiting could be sold as King George whiting at three times the price.
“I hated the dishonesty of this job and resigned after three months,” George wrote.
Instead, he and his wife Jill set up shop amid the “honesty of Tasmania”.
That shop was an early Victorian cottage the couple bought in Knopwood St, Battery Point. They named their seafood restaurant Mures Fish House and it was popular from the day the doors opened.
Looking back, Jill Mure explains the secret to the success wasn’t just the quality of the fish.
“It was successful straight away because there was nothing else like it. It was the first licensed seafood restaurant in Tasmania,” Jill says.
As co-founder and matriarch of the Mures business, Jill maintains a fresh and bubbly enthusiasm for the enterprise.
“When George and I started, we didn’t dream this far ahead,” she said.
And so the dream that started in 1973, employing just three people, has grown to become an expansive seafood enterprise.
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Mures now employs about 190 staff in the summer months, and 140 over winter. The business includes three restaurants in their waterfront building, a factory at Cambridge and their 22m fishing vessel “Diana”.
Jill says she loves watching her son Will and his wife Jude, and especially their three children – Eve, 27, Wilson, 25, and Jock, 22 – when they are immersed in the job.
“You see them doing things you did 40 years ago with the same enthusiasm and vigour and love for it,” she says.
“It makes me very proud.”
George and Jill built the Mures’ Victoria Dock building in 1985, following their fact-finding mission around the world looking at waterside fish eateries – taking in seaside towns in Norway, Bristol in the UK and ports in Japan.
The family’s inspiration and sweat went into the building, as George and his son Will were part of the building team.
From an industry perspective, the landmark building is not just a tourism mecca – but a beacon for the way of the future.
In a sector where survival now rests on sustainability, the Mures are among the leaders in the field.
The original honesty that George admired about Tasmania has been carried through the generations, and is now embedded in their retail and fishing practices.
The younger Mures have started taking school groups through the Mures Fish Centre, explaining how their fishing is carried out.
“The business is always working really hard to be sustainable,” says Eve.
“We talk to the school groups about pollution reduction and sustainable fishing,” says Wilson.
“As well as avoiding bycatch,” adds Jock.
Will says the practices have turned “180 degrees” since the early days when his dad got started, when the industry was so young that heavy fishing was encouraged.
Now, being conscientious is integral to the industry’s survival.
Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council chief executive Julian Harrington said Will Mure has been “huge in establishing new sustainable and environmental fishing practices”.
Mr Harrington said the late George Mure, who died in 2003, was integral to getting some fisheries – such as blue-eye trevalla – established, and his descendants were doing a great job ensuring the future of fishing.
“They are very deserving of the industry ambassador award as they are icons of the Hobart waterfront,” he said.
He said the Mures were “leaders” in being honest about where their fish was from, and were helping to lobby for law changes so the hospitality industry is forced to disclose the origins of their seafood.
As of last year, mandatory country of origin labelling means consumers know where whole fresh fish sold in shops has originated from. However, the laws have not yet been extended to eateries selling cooked fish.
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If the Mures continue to take a leading role in the industry, soon consumers will not only know where their fish hails from – but how it landed on their plate, with “caught by line” a common addition to meals on the Mures menu.
While fishermen are renowned for spinning a tale, the Mures empire is gaining strength from sticking to the facts.
As Jude says, the business runs well not only because they are family, but because they share a philosophy.
“It’s about the values, and we all share the same values,” she says.
anne.mather@news.com.au
Full winners list of the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Awards
The Mures Family – Industry Ambassador
Mures – Large Business
Mures – Primary Producer
Mures Lower Deck – FRDC Best Fish and Chips
Lobster Shack Tasmania – Seafood Restaurant Experience
Aqua Grill Franklin – Casual Dining
Freycinet Marine Farm – Small Business
Offshore SMS – Safety Award
Australan Seafood Industries – RD&E
Eat More Seafood AWBF Showcase – Promotion
Centrostephanus Collaboration – Environmental Stewardship Award
National Seafood Industry – People Development Award
Leadership Program
Scott Mactier – Young Achiever
Fraggles Fish and Chips – FRDC People’s Choice Fish and Chips
Bryan Denny, Dawn Jordan, Joe Oakley, Greg ‘Ringer’ Shea and Chris Parker received Recognition Awards for their contribution to industry.
Originally published as Mure family honoured for role as Tasmanian seafood industry pioneers
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