hi Gunner
no i never got to the gulf TORRES STRAIGHT was as far is i got , by the time i got a boat big enough for the gulf , licences were worth about half a million $
and then the gulf fishery crashed in the 90s and boat and licences were worth nothing and the tories straight was the new frontier so i bought in to that fishery
and worked that with 2 boats with full licences 270 nights a year per boat
yes the tiger prawns are still big in gulf but no bigger then the straights but there's a lot of med size to go with them , early in the year 1st march onward
there only about 90 big boats left in the gulf now 25M stuff to big for the straights or east coast 20m limit
they are all small factory ships now graders and all the mod cons as its only 2 species fishery bananas from march to June then 2 month closure then tigers from September to early DEC and all fully grow prawns and is regulated to the hilt , just to fill up with fuel and pay the entry fee is about 100,000 before you even go to sea fuel is 55%of the turn over now used to be 10% so not much left for the boat owner
there's not enough boats to warrant spotter planes any more you just find a patch and fill up on your own
in the straights we wouldn't see another boat till the mother ship arrived once every 7 days was only 70 boats in the whole fishery
there only about 200 boats left on the whole east of australia now including gulf and Torres straight , in the early there was 2,000 ,prawning is a dying industry now as fuel is $ 1,50 a liter and they have taken the import duty of the over seas farm stuff, it gets landed for $5 a kg from china packed in 3kg shop ready cartons
and you cant get any CREW now as the mines have taken all the drug and drink free ones
thats was way i sold out sick of getting attacked by druggies who couldn't get a fix
i could go on but i better not or it will be a book
cheers bob