The seafood sector mourns a big thinker who helped shape the professional practices underpinning the good reputation of Australian seafood, at home and internationally

On 7 October 2021, his family and the seafood industry farewelled Terence ‘Ted’ David Loveday, a fisher who made a huge contribution to the industry and whose legacy carries on.

Ted grew up in Burnett Heads (Queensland). He began his career in Bundaberg, working on local trawlers, before becoming the President of the Queensland Commercial Fishermen’s Organisation (now the Queensland Seafood Industry Association) (SSA). His appointment as Managing Director of Seafood Services Australia followed.

His legacy to the sector includes important innovations such as:

• establishing SSA as a Standards Development Organisation and publishing the Australian Fish Names Standard AS 5300-2015;
• developing a Primary Production and Processing Standard for Seafood (Standard 4.2.1) based on risk and achieving food safety outcomes;
• contributing to the national seafood industry training package and being a passionate advocate for the package to be adopted and used;
• establishing an approach to environmental management that actively involves the fishers and respects their knowledge and expertise and publishing the seminal Green Chooser information and advisory support system to help industry adopt environmental management systems;
• identifying a prioritised set of trade and market access issues for government to negotiate; and
• implementing a process for engaging and participating in international food safety standards (Codex).

Many of these initiatives are now managed by different organisations including the FRDC, Seafood Industry Australia, OceanWatch, Seafood Trade Advisory Group, SafeFish and SeSAFE.

Ted’s story intertwines with that of the FRDC from its very beginning.

Here are some memories and thoughts from Ted’s friends and colleagues.

Ted was a member of the inaugural FRDC Board when I was appointed its first executive director in 1991. It was a formidable Board comprising Chairman (not Chair in those days!) Bill Widerberg – a corporate leader; three eminent scientists – Brian Hickman, Bob Kearney and Burke Hill; three industry leaders – Ted Loveday, Dale Bryan and George Kailis; and Bruce O’Meagher representing the Minister. These members were, and some remain, leaders in their fields, and Ted was amongst equals with respect to his intellect, analytical thinking, powers of persuasion and effectiveness as a Board member.

Ted was a highly regarded leader in the seafood industry without doubt, and others will praise him for the leadership he provided to the Queensland fishing industry throughout his time with the Queensland Commercial Fishermen’s Organisation. However, where he stood out from other leaders was his innate foresight ability. He recognised future challenges for the industry and advocated mitigating action well before others.

Ted’s appointment as Managing Director to the FRDC-owned company Seafood Services Australia in 1999 provided him with the opportunity to implement change across the whole seafood industry. He did this by building around him a team of like-minded experts and developing strong partnerships with other change agents such as OceanWatch Australia. Through these partnerships, Ted was instrumental in addressing actions relating to, for example, environmental management systems and certification, seafood quality and incident response planning, seafood health benefits, standards development, trade and market access, and many more actions vital to a sustainable seafood industry but not addressed to the same degree or at all by other organisations. Today, two decades on from when Ted was advocating environmental management systems, large fishing companies are promoting their recently achieved environmental credentials.

Understandably, with such strong leadership and advocacy came opposition, and Ted, who didn’t suffer fools gladly, had his detractors. Hopefully, they will now join with his admirers and look back and acknowledge Ted’s significant achievements throughout his working life.

Ted was larger than life. He was a man of intelligence, passion, energy, humour and loyalty.

Rest in peace, Ted.

Peter Dundas-Smith
a work colleague and friend for almost 30 years

Ted made a huge impact on me. I liked his blunt style and his willingness to change his mind in the face of evidence that contradicted his views. Passionately driven to support the fishing industry. Not always easy to deal with but always driven towards better outcomes for commercial fishing and open to debate issues.

Russell Reichelt, AO
Chair of the FRDC Board 1995–2001

Ted was a tireless and very effective advocate for the seafood industry. At the highest levels of government, Ted commanded respect for himself and his industry through the force of his argument and the power of his logic. He was a remarkable man.

The Hon Ron Boswell AO
Chair of the FRDC Board 2016–19

I particularly admired his courage. He had this ability to get people in a room to have the often difficult conversations that had to be had. He was focused on ensuring a future for fishing businesses, their families and their communities. He was tenacious in his effort to have those conversations to focus on actions – not just talk.

Jayne Gallagher
Queensland

He was a fearless advocate for a sustainable, well-managed Australian seafood industry. A passionate leader. A very clever operator. And a loyal friend.

Kylie Dunstan
ACT and Queensland