ABC Rural Report
Rural Report for Northern WA: Wednesday December 14th 2011
By Matt Brann, Kununurra
The Department of Fisheries says prawns should be relatively cheap and plentiful this Christmas.
Around 3,500 tonnes of prawns were caught off WA's coast this year, which is well up on 2010.
Catches around Shark Bay were up around 25 per cent on last year, although heavy rain earlier in the year, has kept sizes down.
Fisheries research officer Errol Sporer says sales have been slow, which means there's a lot of product in the market place, which will mean good value for seafood lovers this Christmas.
"There should be plenty of prawns at a good price," he said.
"If you go to the supermarkets now, you're seeing prawns generally selling at around the $13 to $14 a kilo mark on special, so there should be quite a few prawns around at a good price and at good value, particularly around Christmas."
The department's Dr Mervi Kangas, says catch numbers were down off the Kimberley coast this year, mostly due to a lack of trawlers.
"There were not that many boats operating because of the economic climate," she said.
"Because of lower prawn prices it hasn't been economically viable to go to those fisheries and fish."
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