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personal learning journals on Christmas king prawn prices on the rise as drought hits supply on New South Wales north coast ABC Mid North Coast

personal learning journals on Christmas king prawn prices on the rise as drought hits supply on New South Wales north coast

ABC Mid North Coast

ByBridget MurphyandKim Honan

Posted23 Dec 2019, 7:02am

PHOTO:Low rainfall has resulted in low catch levels along the northern coast of NSW.(ABC Rural: Kim Honan)

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Prawn lovers are facing higher-than-normal prices this Christmas as the drought continues to have an impact on supply.

Key Points:

Fishermen cooperatives across the NSW mid-north and north coasts' say prawn populations are suffering due to low rainfall

Fisheries experts say low water levels and increased salinity is affecting distribution of many seafood species

Co-ops remain confident Christmas demand will be met, despite the slow start to the season and higher prices

IF you were hoping to serve a few kilos of king prawns this Christmas, you may want to rethink your lunch menu.

According to some Sydney retailers, seafood lovers may need to dig a little deeper for their Christmas spread this year, with some prawn varieties set to cost consumers upwards of $50 per kilo.

Tony from Claudio's Seafood said wild caught king prawns will be expensive, but opting for other varieties will be more value for money.

"Today the king prawns were $34 at auction, so I think they will go to $50 or $55 by Christmas," he told news.com.au

"There's just not many around."

Professional Fishermen's Association CEO Tricia Beatty said the drought was taking a toll.

"It's a well-established fact that when you have drought on land, you have drought in water," Ms Beatty said.

"When you go to the land and see a farmer and his crops, you can see how they are directly impacted by the drought."

But Ms Beatty said it could be difficult to see just how drought affected commercial fishing.

"No-one has closed, but it's been a really hard time for us as an industry," she said.

The Wallis Lake Fishermen's Co-Op would usually be several weeks into their peak period, but a lack of rain had resulted in low catch levels.

"The drought definitely has had a huge impact on us," operations manager Suzie McEnallay said.

"This season has started off a lot later, and we definitely need some rain to stir things up a little bit."

It is an issue being felt in several fishing cooperatives across the mid-north and north coasts of New South Wales.

Clarence River Fisherman's Co-operative general manager Danielle Adams said this year's catch was down on last year's.

"It's a seasonal thing, every year is different, but this year has been just a little bit slower than normal," she said.

"We usually get a lot more school prawns than what we are, but that doesn't mean that we haven't got any available to sell at Christmas time."

A Department of Primary Industries spokesperson reiterated the drought's impact on fishery production, especially "aquaculture operations that rely upon suitable supplies of fresh water".

"The catchability of some species is also affected, due to changes in distribution as a consequence of changes in salinity," the spokesperson said.

PHOTO:It has been a slow start to the prawn season for the Clarence River Fishermen's Co-Op.(ABC Rural: Kim Honan)

Prices volatile, demand remains

At the Wallis Lake Co-Op, price per kilogram of school prawns is higher than in previous years, due to uncertainty of quantities being available.

"Pricing has definitely been affected," Ms McEnallay said.

"The start of the prawn season saw school prawns around $30 a kilo. Previous years were around $10-$12 a kilo."

It was also an issue at the Clarence River Cooperative, where Ms Adams said a lower yield meant higher prices, but customer demand remained steady.

"We all know we have a great product to sell, and the demand is always there no matter what time of year," she said. But Christmas time is much, much larger demand, than any other time of year!!

PHOTO:Prawns are expected to cost more this Christmas season.(ABC News: Bridget Murphy)

An extra $5 a kilogram has already been added to the price of prawns and crabs as seafood markets struggle to get their hands on fresh local product, which has been impacted by poor weather conditions.

It's not expected to improve either, with trawlers predicting they will be able to get out on the water only a further three times before Christmas because of the wind.

"Medium sized tigers prawns will be available at a much better price," he said. "Fresh Australian cooked tigers will be around $30 or $35 a kilo.

In a statement to news.com.au, Jane Lovell from Seafood Industry Australia said prawns are always one of the most popular seafood items at this time of year, with consumers set to eat around 50,000 tonnes this festive season.

"Australia's commercial fishers are working hard in the lead up to the festive period to

ensure we have access to a wide variety of world class seafood for Christmas," she said.

Not the first time

Iain Suthers from the University of New South Wales conducted a research project following the Millennium Drought in the early 2000s, looking at the impact low rainfall had on river estuaries.

"The most direct importance for rain, for both juvenile eastern king prawns and for adult school prawns is that the rain encourages and flushes the growing prawns out into the coastal ocean," Professor Suthers said.

"We actually looked at this problem of how our estuaries are becoming increasingly like the coastal ocean."

He said estuaries were usually a mixture of fresh and saline water, but in a drought, they became more like the salty open coast.PHOTO:Suzie McEnallay from Wallis Lake Fishermen's Co-Op said rain was needed, 'to stir things up a bit'.(ABC News: Bridget Murphy)

Casting a wider net

Suppliers have been incorporating stock from interstate and overseas to meet incoming high demand over the Christmas period.

Sydney Fish Markets executive manager for Seafood Trading Gus Dannoun said the New South Wales industry relied heavily on estuary catchers.

"A lot of our prawn supply comes from northern New South Wales, and in those parts, we have seen an impact," he said.

"But we're fortunate that we do source our products from outside of that region as well.

"That's what I guess makes up for what we're not seeing out of New South Wales."

Mr Dannoun said the Sydney Fish Market had incorporated more stock from other states like Queensland and South Australia, as well as some stock from New Zealand.

According to the newspaper, there has been fewer crustaceans in Gold Coast waters because the strong southerly winds have made water temperatures cooler than normal.

It's not expected to improve either, with trawlers predicting they will be able to get out on the water only a further three times before Christmas because of the wind.

"Usually, I would catch up to about two tonnes of prawns from November to Christmas but I haven't caught a tonne yet," Gold Coast fishing trawler Donna King said.

Buy local

Ms Beatty stressed the need for buyers to support local fishermen.

"It's really important to get out there and support your NSW seafood industry, and make sure that when you are buying seafood you ask for NSW seafood," Ms Beatty said.

"It's really important that you buy local, buy fresh and support your locals."

Alternatives

Other favourite seafood varieties that are popular at Christmas, such as Oysters, Mussels, various Fish varieties, have not been affected to the same degree; or at all. They are still plentiful & supply is at normal levels. The prices for these varieties has remained constant & not moved higher with the various prawn varieties. So, depending on consumer preferences, they will have various seafood choices, come Christmas time.

Marshall Betzel from Queensland Seafood Marketers Association said consumers have the opportunity to stock up on scallops for Christmas thanks to a "bumper" season.

"They aren't really iconic Christmas foods, but let me tell you, people should consider a dozen half-shell scallops baked in a hot oven with some butter and garlic; delicious," he said. "There is an abundance of them and they are very good value."

Outside of the co-ops, supermarkets will also be lowering their prawn prices for other varieties ahead of Christmas. Currently Coles has fresh tiger prawns for $34 a kilogram, Woolworths fresh Crystal Bay cooked medium prawns for $28 a kilogram, while Aldi will stock extra large tiger prawns (frozen) for $26.66 per kilo.

1. Explain what messages this news article conveys and decide whether they will impact, demand, supply or both determinants; and how they are affected? Also, how prices are affected, and to what extent? (citing relevant theory from the prescribed text book. (E.g. Price vs Non-price determinants). 2. Construct clearly labelled graphs to demonstrate what will happen to the market, (you can use separate graphs for separate effects if that is easier); and 3. Explain the theory and effects being applied in your graph using full sentence and economic terminology explanations. 4. Any subsequent or 'follow on' effects to the market, after the initial impacts (graphs can also be used here to illustrate)

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zainuddinsiddiqiAnsweredan hour ago

The message is simple : The drought affects all kinds of farming industries like land and fishery farming and also the low availability of the supplies results in the higher prices to be borne by the consumers. Like presently the prices are 34$ and they are expected to jump to 50$ by the Christmas.

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