Eric Fletcher has been building fishing boats and pleasure cruisers for 28 years at Eden and he points out that most of the boats bear the names of women in the fishermen s families. ‘Melissa Kelly’ for instance, is his own grand-daughter’s name.

The future of fishing at Eden will be a barometer of the industry throughout Australia. Some of the fishermen look up from the wharf at the forested hills and point out that the woodchip industry employs many people in Eden but most of the profits go to Japan. They hope the same won’t happen in their industry.