When your fishing business is going along nicely, but you see a vessel that you feel could mean increased catches, more comfort, less maintenance and more productive time at sea, what do you do?

" Order two ."

That is what Alltuna Fisheries have done with the aluminium catamarans produced by Commercial Catamarans of Lakes Entrance Victoria.

The Alltuna Fisheries' family of Rolf and Christyne Mueller, with sons Joe and Ben, have been successfully involved in the Tuna Fishery for a number of years and made a decision last year to change direction in the type of vessels they were operating.

Fishing out of Mooloolaba they were exposed to the first Commercial Catamarans aluminium tuna vessel “Star Trek” when the vessel fished out of their home port last year.

The time spent at sea, the quantity and quality of the catch and the praise given to the vessel by both Skipper and crew convinced this fishing family of the concept.

“Straight Shooter”, whilst on an identical platform and hulls, differs considerably to the previous layout. Most of the huge deck is under cover, all crew accommodation is aft and hauling is carried out from midships on the starboard side.

Rolf, Joe and Ben spent many hours with the designer and builder to set up the boat in a manner that gives the greatest efficiency, safety and comfort for the crew, and achieves best handling capabilities for the catch.

The initial feeling on boarding “Straight Shooter” is one of incredible space!

The fishing deck area is midships with the longline reel situated on the port side and fed directly from the fairlead on the starboard side. Again, the deck space is huge. Main engine, steering, compass and line hauler controls are all situated at a fishing control station on the fishing deck. Joe says: “ this allows complete control of the vessel and fishing operations right where the action happens”.

The top deck bridge area contains a full electronic layout for engine controls, navigation, satellite beacon computer monitors, radios, echo sounder, pilot, stereo etc. , lounge with TV, office desk and a Skipper's cabin with queen size bed with full ensuite and built in robes.

Shooting is carried out over the stern of the boat, where again, there is a set of engine controls. Satellite beacons, manufactured by Commercial Catamarans, are stored in racks aft on the top deck ready to be deployed during shooting.

Crew accommodation is aft, adjacent to the fully equipped galley and mess, seating ten, with two cabins containing 6 bunks. Shower and toilet and laundry are forward. Crew comfort includes TV and video and full air conditioning to all accommodation areas.



Three tanks in each hull hold a total of 54 tonnes of refrigerated salt water for the best quality holding of the tuna catch. Four of these six tanks are able to be used as circulating tanks for live bait. A large cool room, with a capacity of 15 tonnes is situated adjacent to the fishing deck. Also on this deck is a bait freezer holding 10 tonnes.

An ice maker, with a capacity of three tonnes a day, has been installed to ensure the vessel can remain at sea in the unlikely event of all other refrigeration systems failing.

Machinery spaces are aft with each hull housing a main and an auxiliary. Further machinery spaces forward in each hull house refrigeration equipment. The covered bow areas are used for storage and workshop as well as housing the electrically driven hydraulics for the fishing gear.

There was little decision making when it came time for which beacon system to use.

The " FW Beacon" System manufactured by "Commercial Catamarans"

is in use on “Star Trek” and the efficiency, ease of use and information supplied and reliability is reflected in the results. “Straight Shooter is” equipped with 10 beacons, and with the installed computer hardware and software, the skipper can tell at any time the sea surface temperature and the exact position of each beacon along the gear.

When asked why this type of vessel and builder was chosen Rolf says: “ we wanted a boat that gave us a stable working platform, the space to carry out our fishing in comfort and safety and was low maintenance. In addition the boat is practical but simple, there are no complications and everything works well. Commercial Catamarans is a fisherman's builder, Horst Fischer is a fisherman and knows what a fisherman requires on a boat.”


After launch and fit out, Joe, Skipper of “Straight Shooter”, left Lakes Entrance on 9 ^th August heading for the fishing grounds. He is expecting the coming years to be the most successful and comfortable he has experienced and is looking forward to his time at sea on a catamaran.

Ben is looking forward to the launch of their second vessel in October.