industries

Photo Essay: Spot Prawn Season

By Steven Slade /

Crew members Joe Nelson, Fiona Becker and Pete Nelson (left to right) check the bait and inspect traps as the prawn boat heads out for a day’s activity.



More than 2,000 metric tonnes of spot prawn are harvested annually in B.C., with 90 per cent of it shipped across the Pacific.



Spot prawns that are not shipped across the Pacific are available fresh in B.C. restaurants and markets. Among the first to have spot prawn on their menu are Vancouver restaurants Yew, Forage and The Fish Counter.



Crew have to work fast to haul in and empty 500 traps a day while covering 100 nautical miles.



The price per pound varies depending on a number of factors, including supply, but in previous years they have sold for between $10 and $14 a pound.



Spot prawn is a rare luxury because of its limited quantity and time on the market, but these restrictions keep the fishery sustainable.



Regulations restrict each licence holder to a single daily haul (an average of 200 pounds) and a maximum trap number (300 traps per licence), and a limited number of boats are licensed to fish.



Joel empties the last trap of the day before the boat heads back to port in Cowichan Bay.



Eager buyers line up at the dock in Cowichan Bay for their fix of fresh-caught spot prawns.



Crowds form to savour fresh-cooked fare at the annual Cowichan Bay Spot Prawn Festival on Vancouver Island.



This year’s Cowichan Bay Spot Prawn festival runs the weekend of May 24-25.



For more on spot prawn fishing, check out a day in the life of a spot prawn fisher:
https://www.bcbusiness.ca/natural-resources/day-in-the-life-of-a-spot-prawn-fisher


B.C.’s commercial spot prawn fishery is still largely an export phenomenon, but that doesn’t stop locals from celebrating the arrival of the season each May

The spot prawn fishing season begins this year on May 8 and ends as soon as the number of spawning prawns drops to a predetermined level (usually after four to six weeks). When fresh spot prawns are hauled out from the waters of B.C.’s south coast, there’s always a long lineup at the dock.

Spot prawn has long been a delicacy in Japan and other parts of Asia, but in the last decade more of the shrimp is being consumed locally.  Harry Kambolis, owner of Vancouver’s C Restaurant and founding member of the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program, regards the spot prawn season as one of the high points for west coast seafood. “During this time people definitely come in looking for spot prawn,” he says. “The season is a celebration and that energy makes it into the restaurant.”

So how did a commodity once exclusively shipped to Asia gain local popularity? The rise of the Ocean Wise program and its focus on sustainability—finding a local market for local prawns—is one answer. But Chris Sporer, executive director of the Pacific Prawn Fishermen’s Association, also gives credit to B.C. chefs for doing an “incredible job of showcasing prawns” and making the dish so appealing. He’s happy that local residents have embraced the wild seafood the way they have.

Regulations restrict each licence holder to a single daily haul (an average of 200 pounds) and a maximum trap number (300 traps per licence), and a limited number of boats are licensed to fish. Before these regulations were put into place in 1990, overfishing of prawns had led to their decline. In 1989 approximately 900 licences were issued; only 250 were issued the following year.