It has been a year of accolades for Tasmanian seafood royalty Peter and Una Rockliff.
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The names behind the state’s renowned seafood brand Petuna were inducted into the National Seafood Industry Hall of Fame at the Seafood Directions 2017 Conference in Sydney last week.
They also won the Industry Ambassador Award at the awards.
This came just months after the couple won an Industry Ambassador Award at the Tasmanian Seafood Awards.
As was the case with the July award, Peter and Una Rockliff were again surprised at the Hall of Fame recognition, despite their industry involvement of 65 years.
“We didn’t know it was going to happen,” Mrs Roockliff said.
“Our granddaughter accepted the award on our behalf,” she said.
The award was announced on Thursday night and the couple have been inundated with congratulations since.
“It is lovely to think so many people are thinking of us. It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Mrs Rockliff said.
“We’ve had a lot of people contact us and sharing on Facebook.
“It means everything to us. We live and breathe it – and have done all our lives,” she said.
Either others seafood industry stalwarts were also inducted into the Hall of Fame: Barry Evans, Jayne Gallagher, Annie Jarrett, Michael Kailis, Leonie Noble, Bill Passey, Sime Sarin and Grahame Turk.
The inductees have all made substantial positive differences to the seafood industry over many years, conference organisers said.
“They have outstanding personal and leadership qualities and are highly respected throughout the seafood industry,” organisers said.
When the couple met at Bridport in 1949, Mrs Rockliff already understood the Tasmanian seafood industry well.
“My father had a boat, my grandfather had a boat and my uncle had a boat. I was mixed up in fishing before I even met Peter,” Mrs Rockliff said.
Their meeting was the beginning of a seafood business that is still going strong generations later – and has set the tone for the industry.
“Peter pioneered trawler fishing in Tasmania,” Mrs Rockliff said.
“In 1991 we got involved in aquaculture because Peter could see wild fishing was overfished so we needed to do something else,” she said.
The couple is grateful for the support of those around them.
“We would never have done it without our family and loyal friends. We couldn’t have done it by ourselves,” Mrs Rockliff said.