A Sunshine Coast seafood expert has urged people to know what they are getting when they splash out on prawns this Christmas.
Daniel Street Fish Market manager Michael Thomas said locally-sourced prawns were among the best in the country but warned against getting ripped off.
“Mooloolaba prawns have always been synonymous with being probably the best prawns around Australia,” he said.
“They fetch a premium price at the Sydney fish market and in Melbourne as well.”
“The shell’s nice and firm off the coast here, but once you go past Mooloolaba, towards Urangan and Hervey Bay, they seem to get a little bit softer and get that paler look to them.”
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Mr Thomas said customers should know a good-quality prawn when they see, feel and taste one.
“They should have a shiny shell that should be easy to separate from the meat,” he saud,
“The meat should be nice and sweet and clean. We don’t get sandy, gritty prawns here, from the deep water.”
He said local prices could range from the mid-$40s to much higher and warned consumers to be wary of what they pay for.
“You will see variations in sizes and prices, that some sellers try to slip past the consumer,” he said.
“There is a lot of people who do pre-packaged orders and they might stipulate that they are selling medium prawns, when I would class them as small or small-medium prawns.
“I know Sydney and Melbourne prices would be in the $70s, and some places on the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane may try to get a premium price, but in general prices should be roughly around the mid-40s for nice, medium prawns.”
Mr Thomas used to own Pt Cartwright Seafoods at Kawana but sold it and now operates Daniel Street Fish Market, in Caloundra. The business provides seafood to Sunshine Coast restaurants and wholesale prices for walk-in customers.
His business will sell medium/large Mooloolaba King Prawns for $45.90/kg (with about 30 to 35 prawns per kilogram).
Hosts of locals, and tourists, are expected to buy their share of shellfish on the Sunshine Coast, in the hours and days leading up to Christmas.
Will there be enough prawns to go around?
Seafood guru Marshall Betzel, of the Queensland Seafood Marketers Association, said the region was blessed with some of the finest prawns in the world.
“They’re first-class,” he said.
“A Mooloolaba King Prawn is a hard prawn to beat in terms of quality. It’s a very good product.
“You can get Mooloolaba kings and deep-water kings, as well as Tiger Prawns from Moreton Bay.”
Mr Betzel, a former director of the Australian Council of Prawn Fisheries, said there should be enough prawns to go around this festive season.
“The catches there have been average (in terms of numbers),” he said.
“There’s not going to be a glut of product on the market.
“But there will still be ample stock for Christmas.”
Mr Betzel expected prices to be like the previous couple of years.
“Everyone talks about inflationary pressures but prices for prawns haven’t really gone anywhere since last year or even the year before,” he said.
“The average consumer is probably going to be looking at paying the same price they did last year.”
Mr Betzel said prices should remain stable because there’s still enough stock to go around and there could be less demand for prawns this festive season, in the face of increasing interest rates and higher costs of living.
“I think consumers might be more conservative (with money) because they could be more concerned about paying their mortgage and things like that,” he said.
“We (the seafood industry) are hoping for a good Christmas, and I hope people decide to spoil themselves, but I have a feeling they will be very conservative this year.”
The Australian Seafood Industry said wild-caught King Prawns could be purchased for anywhere between $45 to $70 per kilogram around Australia last Christmas, depending on their size and location. Tiger Prawns were $44 to $50/kg.
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