Prawn fishermen hit a snag after years of flooding rain

Fisherman Paul Aquilina has endured a year of floods and uncertainty and is now racing to catch enough prawns for Christmas.

‘Toughest year for 10 years’ ... Paul Aquilina with his catch of river prawns on his trawler at Spencer on the Hawkesbury River in NSW. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

Paul Aquilina has endured a year of floods and uncertainty and is now racing to catch enough prawns for Christmas, but after 10 years cruising the Hawkesbury River in NSW he knows the only constant in the prawn-trawling game is change.

Mr Aquilina has been working overtime to haul in enough prawns for his customers this ­festive season after a challenging year marred by roaring floods that filled the river with debris and flushed much of his potential catch out to sea.

The 28-year-old moors his boat – the Prawn Star – at a serene bend in the river nestled among limestone cliffs at Spencer, 110km north of Sydney, to offload his day’s catch.

He cooks the prawns on the trawler so they’re ready to sell at the wharf.

Clad in waterproof overalls, Mr Aquilina showed no sign of ­fatigue from his 3am start as he began to unload cooler boxes packed full of prawns from his boat, explaining why it’s been an “average” year on the Hawkesbury for fishers.

Brad Conroy (left), Paul Aquilina and Bret Gilbert bag up a catch of river prawns. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

“It’s because of the flood, it’s all changed; the river has changed, the colour of the water has changed,” he said, loading the cooler boxes into his ute.

“There’s lots of snags and I keep ripping nets, it’s just a different year. I haven’t seen a year like it in my 10-year career doing it.”

It’s been a tough year on all fronts for the fisher, with his family home, which he shares with his wife and two young children in Wisemans Ferry, flooded during every major weather event.

“The house went up to the ceiling and we moved and bought ­another house on a mountain now, so we’re not getting flooded,” he said.

As he worked, an elderly couple wandered down from the nearby caravans that dot the river’s bank to buy a bag of prawns. The rest will be sold to friends and other connections.

Meanwhile, further downriver prawn trawlers have been experiencing a bumper year after the ample rainfall and rising rivers flushed much of the prawn stock – and vital nutrients they need to thrive – out to sea.

Sydney Fish Market seafood trading executive manager Gus Dannoun said prawns were in ample supply this year, but oyster stocks were down after the ­estuaries were hit with substantial rainfall, damaging the Sydney rock oysters.

Other popular picks for Christmas include kingfish, barramundi, lobster and half-shell scallops.

“The rain we’ve had has been beneficial and some estuaries are getting a regular flush, and a lot of rivers are flowing into the sea and carrying a lot of nutrients,” he said.

“Prawn life starts in the estuaries and they have been hurried into the ocean quicker and that is where they have their growth spurts.”

It came as the market was ramping up on Friday for a 36-hour trading marathon to Christmas Eve, during which 120 tonnes of prawn will be sold, the equivalent of 55kg a minute, and 840,000 oysters all up, or 390 per minute.

Manettas Seafood Market director Peter Manettas said the market was being supported by ample supply of farmed as well as wild caught prawns.

“The prawns this year are looking fantastic and it’s the first time we’ve seen decent sized prawns in the market,” he said.

“I know last year we struggled to get our hands on bigger farmed prawns but this year there is ample supply in the market.”