Easter prawn harvest in full swing, but farmer won't be eating the profits

A prawn farmer on Queensland's Gold Coast has been flat out harvesting and processing prawns ahead of the busy Easter long weekend, but he won't be eating a single one.

A massive tiger prawn harvested on Queensland's Gold Coast (Picture : Marty McCarthy)

"I think it's good not to eat your own profits," joked Nick Moore, the general manager of Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture.

The farm, about half way between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, specialises in growing tiger prawns for wholesale markets.

"Demand this year has been extraordinary and we're very pleased," Mr Moore said.

"The processing people put a lot of time in and so do the guys who harvest the prawns, there's a lot of early morning starts.

"But the hours are always busy regardless of Easter because prawns require looking after 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Mr Moore has to prepare his farm well in advance of Easter so he is able to keep up with demand.

"Production numbers are set a long time ago because the volume of what you can harvest at Easter is set when you stock," he said.

"But obviously you do need to harvest a lot of extra prawns and fresh product, and work through the weekend to maintain your customers expectations throughout that period."

Mr Moore supplies his prawns to major supermarkets likes Coles and IGA in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

He said the Easter harvest is the last big one of the season before the cooler months set it, which is when farms in north Queensland start their production.

"This species like warm water hence we farm in north Queensland in the early parts of the season, but now [the southern] season is coming to the end," he said.

"In the next three or four weeks the water will be too cold for us to keep going."

Mr Moore said the advantage of farmed prawns, as opposed to wild-caught, is the yield predictability.

"If you're able to stock your pond at the right time and grow them under normal conditions you've got a good chance of getting a crop you can predict," he said.

"The wild-caught guys have a lot of restrictions, be it governmental, environmental, weather, which won't let them be as predictable as we can be.

"Some of the supermarkets will pay more for farmed because it's predicable and they can set their price in advance, something the wild guys obviously aren't able to, but generally the prices are the same.

Despite that, Mr Moore says farmed prawns only make up six percent of the Australian market.

"Imported is by far the biggest, and the wild caught guys are four to five times bigger than we are."

Source : ABC News   March 31st 2015