Gold Coast trawlers.

[Muddy Toes]

I was out on the 70mtr line north of the seaway tonight and on my way out there were a heap of trawlers heading out in the same direction.When they all went past me to, I'm guessing the 80-90mtr line they all seemed to form a pretty straight line with a bit of distance between them and they seemed to keep this line for the few hours i was out there.
Now i curious.
What are these guys catching?

[ShaneC]

I'm tipping prawns man

[fisher28]

lol,i reckon you're onto it!:D

[GABBA110360]

AS A EX PRO TRAWLER fisho you are right king prawns.
it's been a long time since i worked up that way 1986 actually.
they were probably just inside the reef that runs up toward lookout
i haven't been to sea for two years now!!
beer every arvo now lol
cheers
ken

[johncar]

Don't forget the bycatch, King Prawns and lots of other fish I would imagine..or I'd rather not actually.

[GABBA110360]

Don't forget the bycatch, King Prawns and lots of other fish I would imagine..or I'd rather not actually.
it would probably surprise you how little good species (fish we catch) would be trawled up at night in that depth of water.
might get a snapper or a pearly if you run the gear up a snag or the reef.
but believe me that is the last thing these guys would want to do.
thousands of dollars in repairs nah.
the snags and reefs in that area would be mapped to the n--nth degree by now
ken

[tunaticer]

Talking to the guy at Rufus Seafoods at Amity on Monday, he said the guys with the deep trawlers have struck gold on oversize king prawns the past two weeks out on deep to very deep grounds. He said the sizes of some of the prawns are almost beyond belief.
I bet every one of those mega prawns is exported ASAP.

[GBC]

You bet your life they are exported. How many aussies have seen a 1lb leader prawn? The bloody things are like a 40cm whiting to hang onto, and are worth over $100 each on the jap market.

[jason p]

it would probably surprise you how little good species (fish we catch) would be trawled up at night in that depth of water.
might get a snapper or a pearly if you run the gear up a snag or the reef.
but believe me that is the last thing these guys would want to do.
thousands of dollars in repairs nah.
the snags and reefs in that area would be mapped to the n--nth degree by now
ken
yep would have to agree, although there is by catch but not as much as alot of people are lead to belive. however this is a bit different when working in close grounds. hmmm i do miss the first cook of the morning.

jp

[Matt_Campbell]

How many aussies have seen a 1lb leader prawn? The bloody things are like a 40cm whiting to hang onto, and are worth over $100 each on the jap market.

For the aquaculture industry as broodstock?

[GBC]

Nah - they're very dead. Want a bit more than a hunj to get a live prawn from the Gulf (that's where the big leaders are) to Japan I'd think. They don't even taste very good as you'd imagine, but they look great on a plate in a sushi bar....

[Matt_Campbell]

Nah - they're very dead. Want a bit more than a hunj to get a live prawn from the Gulf (that's where the big leaders are) to Japan I'd think.

What about the Australian aquaculture industry?

[GABBA110360]

You bet your life they are exported. How many aussies have seen a 1lb leader prawn? The bloody things are like a 40cm whiting to hang onto, and are worth over $100 each on the jap market.
well i will stand corrected.
but leader prawn has nothing to do with eastern king prawn.
the biggest prawn i ever put on the scales was about 300grams eastern king prawn.
if what they are catching are like that they fall into the class of U6'S.
under 6 to the kilo.
i would be surprised if ther'e whole catch were that big u8-u10 probably
but anyway from a financial point of view i'm glad i'm out of it now
ken

[GBC]

I was just using leaders as an example of what gets exported that the average aussie doesn't ever get to see (and big leaders are really impressive). Def kings and red spots around here. 300 g is not far off a lb - impressive king..

[netmaker]

when i was deckying on prawn trawlers the prawn count was to the pound not to the kilo. ie u10's were less than 10 prawns to the pound. this was the case from moreton bay all the way to the gulf. the biggest leader i have seen was 30cm long. cant remember the weight but recall that it was a u5. also the only bycatch fishing in the bay in the way of fish were diver whiting. the only good fish ever netted i remember was a haul of about 30 saddleback perch all going 40-50cm caught off bowen. spent the whole next day repairing nets. prawn trawlers definately DO NOT target fish. a csiro bloke i talked to years back reckons that prawn trawling in the bay helped create one of the best sand crab industries in the world due to the baitfish bycatch feeding the sandy population.
davo

[GABBA110360]

netmaker
you are right the count is to the pound or now 1/2 kilo
cheers
ken