With COVID-19 safety concerns, they were happy to be able to open the fishery at all. She added that from a DFO perspective, the season went well. Prawn abundance is highly variable, and in her experience even if there’s leftover inventory all the fishing licences are active. Convey doesn’t expect there to be fewer fishermen, though. If the inventory sticks around into next year, it could drive prices down even more for fishermen. They’ve yet to sell 80 to 85 per cent of their frozen prawns.
#Flashfrozen rent plus#
Ian Leitch with Sea Plus Foods in Powell River said they dabbled in live sales this year, and will double down on it next year. While the official numbers aren’t in yet, BC Prawns director Miek Atkins says it was a great year for domestic sales, noting that it’s becoming more common to see B.C. Live sales means local, fresh seafood, often purchased off the dock.
Some sellers tried to diversify sales between live and frozen in June and July, to avoid the pile up of inventory. Contract terms vary between wholesalers, and from buyer to buyer. Then as wholesalers offload the frozen goods they pay an adjustment to fishermen to match market prices. The way the prawn sales operate means it will take months for the industry to be able to compare final prices to last year.įishermen are paid a portion of their share up front. The jumbo and extra-large sizes seem to have held their value, but it’s too early to conclude. Prices have also been lower, especially for the medium to large prawns. Sellers are hunting for new buyers, and the process takes time.įisheries and Oceans Canada’s spot prawn fisheries lead Laurie Convey expects the volume harvested to be roughly similar to last year at 1,977 tonnes (3,954,000 lbs). It’s going to take time for the market to unwind itself,” said Brad Mirau with Aero Trading in Vancouver, estimating that 70 to 80 per cent of their frozen prawn inventory would normally be sold by now. “The fact that they had COVID-19 early means there’s been a lack of consumption. Spot prawns are normally among B.C.’s top five most valuable fisheries.Ĭhina is B.C.’s largest spot prawn customer, and demand has been dramatically reduced. Up-front payments to prawn fishers were around 40 per cent lower than usual in anticipation of depressed sales. Predictions made at the start of the year that international frozen sales would be unreliable proved correct. For some, last year at this time, product was sold out. The spot prawn exporters Black Press Media spoke to all said sales of frozen prawns are crawling this year compared to previous seasons. About three million pounds of delicious spot prawns, flash frozen at sea and destined for restaurants in China and Japan, are still sitting in B.C.
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