Prawn Closures

[Hot Rods]

Contrary to what we have been lead to believe, studies in Washington State and Alaska indicate all female spot prawns do not die shortly after spawning. Their studies show 45% of the berried females survive their initial spawn and make it to the October mating time where 85% are successful and go on to spawn again. Many for several years. Growth continues in a portion of these prawns and they become the jumbo-plus size animals we see in some areas. The growth actually stops in most after that first spawn. We have always conceded the point that the majority of the prawns taken in the commercial harvest are post spawners and thus had little impact on the sustainability of the resource because we believed they did not survive. Now I'm beginning to wonder what the true impact is when I factor in this information and the 30% that Traveller mentions above.

 

[searun]

Excellent post Mr. "T" Like your points that clearly distinguish the needs of the recreational angler from other harvesters. These protected water fisheries are highly important to the recreational community. Its time there was a serious look at the fishery and how it has been managed to find ways we can look after these unique needs.

 

[searun]

Wow, that is rather interesting. Any links to those studies? That would certainly suggest a shift in management protocols may be necessary to ensure sustainability going forward.

 

[trophywife]

sounds very true. we catch what would look like a 2 year prawn that is berried, no bigger than say thumb tip to wrist, while others are longer than my hand and berried... interesting bug knowledge.

 

[Derby]

Just a quick reminder to Fish4all who seems to have missed an earlier post....the commercial fleet does a fine job of targeting and harvesting the year class of prawns in May, June and July which will be the coming winter spawning females. There are only a certain number of them, obviously, and the DFO managers have to decide who will catch them...and their decision is to have the commercial fleet do that! Then as we head into the winter months all of a sudden we hear that "you recreational people have to stop fishing because we need all the remaining females to distribute the eggs/larvae" They seem to think of this as a " no brainer" It is hard to understand why a commercial fleet fishing down the stock in the Spring is translated into a conservation concern for prawns caused by recreational harvest.....kind of fits the old saying " lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part"

The other fact that DFO seems to disregard is that, as mentioned by others, the number of recreational boats that fish in winter is quite reduced compared to summer use, so leaving areas open in winter does not pose any where near the impact of summer fishing, particularly when recreational people release the berried females when they are encountered.

If the effective strong harvest of prawns in the spring by the commercial fleet was managed to leave more females and transitions in the water, there would not be the cry to close for winter because every single female is then too valuable to touch.

If recreational anglers are to get better opportunity and expectation of catch, which needs to happen when there are 20 to 30 winter closed areas each winter now, and most of those closures are close to the major population centres with the calm protected water we need with our size boats, then something needs to change, and the common property resource, our prawns, should become more available to us. It would seem the halibut battles have been transferred to the prawn access issue, and probably need a similar solution given the current management decisions.

Perhaps its time for a " Prawn coalition"?

 

[hambone]

Fish4All, I enjoy reading the majority of your posts as you obviously have a connection to commercial fishing and you're passionate about fishing. But storytelling about rec catches is questionable. I've been around a few current and former commercial fishermen and if we want to share stories about fishing maybe we should make our own thread. Seems like whenever you get a commie talking about fishing, their favourite stories are about complete over harvesting and/or breaking the rules like its some sort of a game.

I realize you were just trying to make a point but the story about 15000 prawns on two boats changes significantly once we get more details. Even if this story has any truth to it, when you factor in 2 guests on a guide boat over 60 day season, we are talking about 125 prawns per license.

Yes, the rec prawn sector can't come up with any hard numbers on their total catch. Id be interested in finding out how DFO judges the rec take or effort. I think its probably grossly over-estimated! Maybe the go-to argument the commercial sector uses (that the rec prawners don't know their impact) will come back to haunt them if we sporties are able to get accurate catch numbers. What do you think?

 

[searun]

Ya, I would think it is time for a Prawn Coalition. The rec community isn't getting the respect around the table when we are discussing how to more effectively manage over exploitation.

 

[Derby]

There is a Federal election approaching ...

 

[searun]

Ha ha, 300,000 rec anglers and their families does have a certain ring to it if you are a career politician hoping to renew your mandate.

 

[Copper Moon]

Contrary to what we have been lead to believe, studies in Washington State and Alaska indicate all female spot prawns do not die shortly after spawning. Their studies show 45% of the berried females survive their initial spawn and make it to the October mating time where 85% are successful and go on to spawn again. Many for several years. Growth continues in a portion of these prawns and they become the jumbo-plus size animals we see in some areas. The growth actually stops in most after that first spawn. We have always conceded the point that the majority of the prawns taken in the commercial harvest are post spawners and thus had little impact on the sustainability of the resource because we believed they did not survive. Now I'm beginning to wonder what the true impact is when I factor in this information and the 30% that Traveller mentions above.

You mean like this? Caught August 9th a number of years ago. Broughton area. They were all similar size. I was told that the area had been closed to commercial fishing that year. Never caught any that size before that and not again after that year.

 

[trophywife]

 

[Hot Rods]

Nice prawns guys. Sure supports the longer lifespan theory. Wonder if there are more of those out in 550 - 600 feet.

 

[searun]

Prawnsilla's Nice catch. Certainly makes you wonder what we really know about prawn biology.

 

[Revenge]

I have a friend that works for the Vancouver aquarium as a diver/ specimen collector. Over a few beer one night we talk about releasing small prawns or egg bound females and he told me (true or not) that prawns have a very slim chance of surviving after being returned to the depths. Some areas are far worse than others (Howe sound is a good example) because of the amount of fresh water in the upper layer of the water column . Prawns are Stenohaline and have a problem with fresh water and go through a kind of catatonic shock .I do put the egg bound females back but often wonder why ? Definition of STENOHALINE
an aquatic organism
: unable to withstand wide variation in salinity of surrounding water

 

[hambone]

Prawnsilla's Nice catch. Certainly makes you wonder what we really know about prawn biology.

Not much!! I did a commercial season a few years ago. It wasn't a great year, so lots of talk about where they are, what's happened and just prawns in general. Between several commercial fisherman and an experienced DFO observer I can tell you that no one had even the slightest clue what goes on down there. I do remember an old timer saying that maybe things are going back to how they used to be, meaning that in recent years prawn abundance has been well above "normal" conditions that these fishermen were used to.

 

[KV1]

That's a good thing. I believe they (govt) is using our results.surveys,reports, whatever against us. Including forums that talk about how great the fishing is here and there. I personally don't report or tell anyone where the fishing for anything is,was or ever will be good. Anyone asks its pink hootchy 250 feet "out there" pointing at the ocean.

 

[Derby]

That's a good thing. I believe they (govt) is using our results.surveys,reports, whatever against us. Including forums that talk about how great the fishing is here and there. I personally don't report or tell anyone where the fishing for anything is,was or ever will be good. Anyone asks its pink hootchy 250 feet "out there" pointing at the ocean.

I fully disagree with u.. the recreational sport fisherman need to fully accountable & require accurate data.. what u suggest is nothing but irresponsible......that just makes all the people involved in the process job ever harder....

 

[hambone]

Absolutely! recreational prawners need to come up with a way to compile accurate catch numbers.

It's a bad idea to leave it as a guessing game..... Especially with a commercial sector that uses this to their advantage. Id be willing to bet that we are predicted to have a much greater impact than we really do.

 

[ziggy]

Agree! We can't complain if we don't provide accurate information!

 

[Wiseguy]

That's a good thing. I believe they (govt) is using our results.surveys,reports, whatever against us. Including forums that talk about how great the fishing is here and there. I personally don't report or tell anyone where the fishing for anything is,was or ever will be good. Anyone asks its pink hootchy 250 feet "out there" pointing at the ocean.

Wow, really. Why are u on this forum then?