Prawns

[Sangstercraft]

Last year 100+ prawns in a trap before the commercial prawning opened. They hit it hard, according to a friend who prawns commercially, and had a great haul. However the price was lower so they didn't make as much money as they would have pre-pandemic.

This year, in the same area they hit hard, I'm getting a few prawns per trap. I let them go and gave up after a few sets in the area.
This is around Lasqueti Island.

The prawn deckhands make about $30,000 in a month of work. The captains and owners of course make far more. Because of this greed, the rest of us can't catch prawns for months afterwards (and in this case, a year later still sucks).

With salmon retention closed, at least we should be able to get out in our boats and catch something to share with the family.

If you're concerned like I am, send an email to the prawn biologists below and tell them of the collapse you're seeing:

laurie.convey@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
mike.Kattilakoski@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
david.fogtmann@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Rachel.Mcguinness@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

[CRGreg]

Last year 100+ prawns in a trap before the commercial prawning opened. They hit it hard, according to a friend who prawns commercially, and had a great haul. However the price was lower so they didn't make as much money as they would have pre-pandemic.

This year, in the same area they hit hard, I'm getting a few prawns per trap. I let them go and gave up after a few sets in the area.
This is around Lasqueti Island.

The prawn deckhands make about $30,000 in a month of work. The captains and owners of course make far more. Because of this greed, the rest of us can't catch prawns for months afterwards (and in this case, a year later still sucks).

With salmon retention closed, at least we should be able to get out in our boats and catch something to share with the family.

If you're concerned like I am, send an email to the prawn biologists below and tell them of the collapse you're seeing:

laurie.convey@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
mike.Kattilakoski@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
david.fogtmann@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Rachel.Mcguinness@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

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just curious how much you would expect to make if you had well over a Million dollars invested and worked 40 Days straight ? yes the season is roughly 30 days, but these boats and traps dont prep themselves or put themselves away..

CRGreg

 

[Aces]

Anybody heard what live prawns are going for at the dock this year ?........just curious......thanx

I saw they were $12 at Ladysmith yesterday

 

[wildmanyeah]

anyone know where you can pick up like 10 pounds of tails for decent price

 

[Sangstercraft]

just curious how much you would expect to make if you had well over a Million dollars invested and worked 40 Days straight ? yes the season is roughly 30 days, but these boats and traps dont prep themselves or put themselves away..

CRGreg

A million invested is $5k/month on a loan. Five days prep on either side of the fishery (50 days total) into $30k is $600 per day - for the LOWEST paid guy on the boat. I've seen what the prawners buy with the proceeds, and it's obvious they're making a huge amount of cash at the expense of the rest of us who want a prawn dinner once in a while. And at the expense of halibut and bottomfish who need juvenile prawns as a food source.

 

[ziggy]

just curious how much you would expect to make if you had well over a Million dollars invested and worked 40 Days straight ? yes the season is roughly 30 days, but these boats and traps dont prep themselves or put themselves away..

CRGreg

Where is the million dollar figure coming from? Are the boats so specialized they can only fish prawns Or can they fish other species?

 

[CRGreg]

Where is the million dollar figure coming from? Are the boats so specialized they can only fish prawns Or can they fish other species?

licences are roughly a Million, then add traps ,bait, rope, gear fuel, insurance etc ... and thats before the Boat..

 

[Aces]

Where is the million dollar figure coming from? Are the boats so specialized they can only fish prawns Or can they fish other species?

They can fish for other species with a separate license

 

[wildmanyeah]

for guys leasing I heard start up costs were 100k

 

[ziggy]

licences are roughly a Million, then add traps ,bait, rope, gear fuel, insurance etc ... and thats before the Boat..

OK I’m confused. On the DFO site it says annual license is $320. Is this similar to halibut where because a few guys have quota or in this case were given the right to fish, that a dollar figure to lease from them or buy them out is up to a million? Totally get the equipment costs, but if for example young guys have to pay an additional million to another guy in order to fish it hardly seems fair. Pretty sure the initial guys never coughed up a million.

 

[ziggy]

for guys leasing I heard start up costs were 100k

Wow, who can afford that to start in a business, not to mention a boat and other equipment.

 

[mikep]

there is more than 5 days setup and tear down for a commercial prawn operation, weeks up front and after.

licenses are north of 800K.

a cheap boat is 150-200k but many spend 600K plus.

they do mop up the prawns but so do lots of sport traps that a fishing almost year round. Also some prawners do well and other not so much as its a derby style fishery.

 

[trophywife]

only a couple boats working around bam. see if they stick around. sometimes only in a couple days they will pack up and go elsewhere.

 

[DuroBoat]

Commercial prawners are working it off the Victoria waterfront. I dropped my traps but there was not much left. The commercial prawner came right up to my boat in his huge commercial boat and told me he was about to drop a string of traps right where I was halibut fishing and I better move on or I’ll lose some gear.

 

[Brian Reiber]

I'm pretty fortunate to be able to prawn stuart channel most of the year. I'm happy to let the commercial guys have their turn out there. It isnt worth the hassle of trying to prawn when the commies have traps out. I do find them to be a bit of a **** show at our boat launch when unloading though. I fully expect a brawl to happen there eventually.

Does anyone know what happened to all the prawns that they couldnt sell last year?

 

[RiverBoy]

I'm pretty fortunate to be able to prawn stuart channel most of the year. I'm happy to let the commercial guys have their turn out there. It isnt worth the hassle of trying to prawn when the commies have traps out. I do find them to be a bit of a **** show at our boat launch when unloading though. I fully expect a brawl to happen there eventually.

Does anyone know what happened to all the prawns that they couldnt sell last year?

they are still in the freezers. we have friends that bought some small tubs of tails of last years stocks directly from Walcan. it was still very expensive in my opinion; but i’ve never purchased seafood in my life.

edit: walcan selling 1 1/2 pound boxes of tails from last year for $40

 

[Aces]

they are still in the freezers. we have friends that bought some small tubs of tails of last years stocks directly from Walcan. it was still very expensive in my opinion; but i’ve never purchased seafood in my life.

edit: walcan selling 1 1/2 pound boxes of tails from last year for $40

That’s still pretty expensive. I can buy this current stock of tails for $20/lb

 

[Brian Reiber]

they are still in the freezers. we have friends that bought some small tubs of tails of last years stocks directly from Walcan. it was still very expensive in my opinion; but i’ve never purchased seafood in my life.

edit: walcan selling 1 1/2 pound boxes of tails from last year for $40

I'm very empathetic to the fact that everyone needs to feed their families but it seems crazy to me to keep harvesting when the cold storage facilities are holding large amounts of product.

But hey what do I know. I'm sure DFO has a good handle on the science and the stocks are probably overly abundant.

 

[wildmanyeah]

yeah i thought i found an okay deal but they were last years stock frozen tubs.