Thompson Family

The Thompson family story started in 1966 with Dave Thompson Senior “Dogga” on the helm of his boat Seatips. The Thompson clan has lived in and around Cervantes for decades and it was there in the 1966 season “Dogga” finally gave in to the pull of the ocean and fished his first season for crays. He had been hesitant about going to sea until then because he didn’t want to be away from home for too long and the season at that time was bout 9 months. He and his wife, Beth were parents to four children – Kelly, Dave, Michael and Matthew.

Living in a coastal shack settlement 200 kilometres North of Perth, David and his three sons worked on the sea together. In 1975 they started by helping Dad out but he had first sent them off to get trades – then they did an apprenticeship with their Father. He helped them get started, and they went on to buy their own boats at various times.

By the mid-1980s the family had a fleet of 13 boats. In the 1990s the family started diversifying into off-ocean investments and purchased the Mundabullangana (Munda) Station, 100kms south-west of Port Hedland. It had been one of the families favourite camping spots when the kids were growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But they never took their eye off fishing and doubled down on their fishing investments.

Led by “Dogga’s” oldest Son Dave, in 2008 they took over the local crayfish processing plant in Cervantes and created IORL – Indian Ocean Rock Lobster. It was later re-modelled as the Lobster Shack, complete with a restaurant and bar, and the business now offers accommodation and sea lion tours. In 2012 they exported their first sales to China and local boat tours began.

Today, “Dogga’s” three sons have raised their own sons to become lobster fishermen. That first single boat has now been surpassed by a fleet of modern and highly efficient vessels, which today continue to fish the waters off the coast of Cervantes. The legacy left by The Thompson family will be around for generations to come.