Tag Archives: Gulf of Carpentaria
Low export prices prompt seafood industry to push more tiger prawns into Aussie markets
Australians are being urged to eat more wild-caught tiger prawns, as fishers move away from sending their produce overseas. It’s been a slow start to the season in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Queensland; catches are down but fishers are also facing challenging international markets amid tough economic conditions. Austral Fisheries is one of the largest commercial fishing companies in Australia. Northern prawn division operations manager Bryan Van Wyck said due to an oversupply on the international market, they could not get the prices they were accustomed to. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:46
Gulf of Carpentaria fishing couple celebrates ’90 years’ doing a job they still love
Bruce Davey has been fishing commercially in the Gulf of Carpentaria for 50 years and can’t believe how lucky he is. “I came up in 1974 on a little timber prawn trawler that I sailed from Mooloolaba,” he said. “This year, I’m celebrating my 50th consecutive year at sea working hard for my country — and my wonderful wife Juanita is celebrating her 40th year, so that’s 90 years of fishing between the two of us.” 
Their boat is called the MV Wildcard and these days there are three generations of Davey’s living onboard, including grandchildren Ellica, aged four, and Finn, aged 2. “This is Ellica’s fourth mackerel season and she’s a great help around the boat,” Mr Davey said. Photos, audio, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 17:55
Mud crabbers of King Ash Bay endure harsh lifestyle, extreme weather to catch sought-after seafood
Crocodiles and sharks are just everyday work hazards for Josh Taylor and the other fishermen who battle some of the harshest conditions in Australia to catch one of the nation’s most prized seafoods — mud crabs. Many live in makeshift wooden huts, with no creature comforts, amongst mosquito-infested mangrove swamps in the estuaries around the Gulf of Carpentaria. It may be no surprise then that Mr Taylor is one of just 49 fishers who hold mud crabbing licences in the Northern Territory, and one of just six who drop their pots in the remote King Ash Bay. Despite the hazards, Mr Taylor, who became a commercial mud crabber four years ago, says he enjoys heading out in his boat, catching fish to eat for dinner, and returning to the simple shack he shares with two other fishermen at King Ash Bay. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:11
Gulf fishermen’s livelihoods obliterated with 14 days’ notice
Fishermen in the Gulf of Carpentaria were given two weeks notice that five gillnet-free zones will be implemented in their waters, in an announcement released by Queensland’s Agriculture Minister Mark Furner last Friday afternoon. Gulf of Carpentaria Commercial Fishermen Association spokesperson Shawn McAtamney described the decision as flawed and disappointing, while Traeger MP Robbie Katter said it was an utter slap in the face to fishers who’d had their livelihoods obliterated with 14 days’ notice. In addition to the impacts it will have, Mr. McAtamney said the haste with which it was pushed through was concerning. “It didn’t even go through parliamentary debate,” he said. “The Governor signed off on it, an archaic piece of colonial history.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:37
An explosion of lucrative banana prawns – Flood disaster turns a profit downstream in the Gulf of Carpentaria
Raptis Pearl skipper Mick McGillivray, with one of his deckhands, celebrated the best start to the banana prawn season in the Gulf of Carpentaria since 1974. A two billion dollar damage bill to Queensland graziers, with an AgForce estimate of 664,000 head dead after February floods – the worst since 1974 – has been compensated to some degree by the best start to the banana prawn harvest in the southern end of the Gulf of Carpentaria for decades. Hardest hit areas, like Julia Creek and McKinlay Shire where 274,000 head were lost, drain into the Flinders River which has nourished an explosion of lucrative banana prawns in warm shallow waters just beyond its mouth. >photo’s, click to read<14:03
Female first mate untangling the net of male-dominated fishing industry
Nadine Adams began her prawn trawling career as a cook a few years ago, but she has moved out of the kitchen since then and during the recent tiger prawn season was controlling operations on the deck of the FV Ocean Thief, which is part of the Austral Fisheries fleet. “The skipper’s in the wheelhouse most of the time so I’m the person down on the deck making sure things happen the way they should be,” Ms Adams said. “I was kind of itching to move on from the cook’s position, because I’d done it for a couple of years and learnt what I could there.” click here to read the story 11:57
Austral Fisheries charged over electrocution death on prawn trawler
One of Australia’s largest commercial fishing companies has been charged over the electrocution of a young man on a prawn trawler in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Ryan Donoghue, 20, died in 2013 while cutting rusted shackles using a 240-volt angle grinder which was plugged into a socket without a safety switch on Austral Fisheries Newfish 1 trawler. Mr Donoghues father Steven has spent the past three-and-a-half years pushing for a prosecution and better regulation of Australia’s maritime industry.,, Austral fisheries faces a maximum penalty of $1.5 million if found guilty. Click here to read the story 13:53
Forearm-sized prawn caught in Gulf of Carpentaria
A photo of the prawn sent to the ABC by Kai Thomas has generated plenty of interest on social media this week, with fishermen comparing their biggest catches. Austral Fisheries northern division manager Andrew Prendergast said it was rare to catch a prawn weighing 300g. “That’s a pretty significant prawn,” Mr Prendergast said “They’re not a target species of ours. We catch them incidentally and they’re generally always bigger than the grooved or brown tigers.” Mr Prendergast said he had never caught a prawn bigger than 300g, but he had seen one. “I do remember seeing something in the Australian fish management fishing magazine about one that was caught in the gulf, just under 400g,” he said. continue reading the article here 10:10
Gulf of Carpentaria trawl operators on track to cut bycatch by one third with new prawn net devices
Trawler operators in the Gulf of Carpentaria believe they’re on track to achieving an ambitious target of cutting bycatch by 30 per cent in three years. The northern prawn fishery’s been offering cash incentives to promote and develop new ideas for limiting the amount of non-target species caught in prawn nets. Trawler skipper Jamie Ball admitted he was worried at first about potential prawn losses when trialling a new bycatch reduction device on board his fishing vessel, Xanadu. But after measuring and comparing catches in separate nets over a two-week period, the skipper and his crew were convinced the industry was on a winner. “I was a bit hesitant ’cause I thought ‘oh well is it losing prawn as well?” Read the story here 13:34
Meet the fishermen who spend eight months at sea chasing profit, adventure and barramundi
Kooch, 43, has been battling his wits with the metre-long silver-scaled fish since he was a 16-year-old deckhand just out of school. “Everyone likes the idea of fishing,” he said. “They think it’s pina coladas and sun tans. “It’s not like that. It’s dirty, long hours and isolated.” On board his vessel Ruby were a team of three other men, itinerant deckhands from New South Wales, Western Australian and South Australia thrown together by fortune. Like nineteenth century whalers, each was chasing profit and adventure while savouring the serenity and quiet of life at sea. Read the rest here 17:55
