Voyages on moonless nights by the fisheries vessel Davui could have resulted in the establishment of a new industry.
The Fiji Times reported on Wednesday, October 10, 1968, the Davui was probing for prawns, one of the world’s most expensive foods and had encouraging catches.
The prawns were generally between four and five inches long but some were as long as 10 inches.
Mr A.E Adams, a government fisheries officer, said the results they were getting at the time were better than what he had obtained doing similar experimental work overseas.
The Davui went prawn hunting only when there was no moon.
No nets Mr Adams explained it had generally been found that prawns were more active when the moon was in the dark phase.
“They lift clear of the bottom and come up out of the mud and there is a better chance of catching them,” he said.
Normal commercial-size nets for prawning were not available in Fiji when this story was originally reported.
Mr Adams said that from the number they were catching using a small net, it was possible to get some idea of what sort of catches could be expected with a commercial net.
“I would expect that if someone could catch about 200lb of prawns a night, this would provide quite a good income.
“The main thing is to find where the main schools congregate and whether the positions of the schools are suitable for trawling.”
The Davui was searching the coast of Viti Levu and later would switch to Vanua Levu.
“There could be a good future for a prawn industry here.”
