Spot prawn eggs...

AndrewH

Well-Known Member
Pulled up a load of prawns today but 1/3 went back because they were carrying eggs. When do they usually drop their eggs?
 
thats a great pdf on there life cycle Rob .
just a reminder that females bearing eggs are to be released , ive personally always have put as many as possible back into the water, do they survive ? perhaps , much better chance than saying **** it and
takin them back to the dock , spoke to someone thats friends with the guys that actually do test sets , When a Spawn Index is performed , its based on how many females they get on there test sets , even though they have super high counts , if there are only a few females , they SHUT IT DOWN !! from Jan to April... ( what i was told , makes sense )

if ya enjoy this fishery in your personal area , keep that in mind....
prawns reproduce quite easily . and can withstand heavy hits , just not on loaded females



Happy Prawning , my area got closed down again til April , 4 years in a row
never happened until recently :( hopefully people catch on here...

fd
 
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I think one group fishes them during the closure in our area Felix , hit it hard too.. I wonder where they end up? food and ceremonial purposes?
 
Seasonal closures for prawn and shrimp (including area maps), click this link:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/shellfish-coquillages-eng.html

Since we are in Winter right now, here's those specific area closures (cut and paste from DFO's site):
Depending on the results of the spawner index testing in the fall, we close the following areas from January 1 - March 31 and re-open them on April 1. These 3 month winter closures protect large, mature egg-bearing females as their eggs prepare to hatch.

Parts of Stuart Channel, Alberni Inlet and Saanich Inlet may continue "pulse fishing" (closed in the first half of the month and open in the second half of the month. Read our Q&A on prawn and shrimp pulse fishing for more information.

The following areas are closed January 1 to March 31, 2019. Re-open April 1, 2019.

Subareas 19-7 to 19-12 (Saanich Inlet) are closed:

  • December 1 to December 15, 2018
  • January 1 to January 15, 2019
  • February 1 to February 15, 2019
  • March 1 to March 15, 2019
 
based on this data prawning should be closed 4-5 months in the winter-catch them in the summer and freeze . this is why the commercial guys fish prawns in May,June
Wouldn’t work for all areas. Where I prawn the sport fishers basically pack it in when the commercial boats move in. Far too much traffic, far too many traps down and essentially trying to dodge the commercial fishing fleet and stay out of their way, just isn’t worth it. Additionally once the commercial season ends the prawns take quite some time to recover and so I and most others avoid fishing in the summer. That just leaves the Fall which is often Pulse Fishing and the early part of the year prior to the commercial opening. Not saying it won’t work anywhere else, but in areas where there’s a heavy commercial fishery as well it’s not really practical.
 
Hey
if ya enjoy this fishery in your personal area , keep that in mind....
prawns reproduce quite easily . and can withstand heavy hits , just not on loaded females
fd

Did 23 ever fully come back after the carpet bombing 8 or so years ago wen half the commie fleet decided to fish it to death?
Bin a few years since I have prawned over there. As of about 4 years ago spots I fished where never back to what they where. Before that spring.
 
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