Preparing for the prawn season - what are “becketts”?

The commercial prawn fishery opens on May 5, 2022 and Shane is busy preparing. It’s time to go through all 300 traps one by one to repair any holes, inspect them for any deficiencies, and replace the rot cords. Rot cords are a piece of cotton string that sew up the escape hole that is cut into the side of the trap. If the trap is ever lost in the water, the rot cord decays and any prawns or shrimp that are in the trap can escape.

Shane has also been building new ground line (the line that the traps get snapped onto) which involves putting a “beckett” into the line every 60 feet. This “beckett” is a coloured piece of rope that gets spliced onto the groundline; it ensures that when a trap gets snapped onto the groundline it stays in it’s own 60 foot space and can’t slide any further down the line in either direction. This keeps the traps from piling on top of one another and spaces the gear out evenly. Having trouble visualizing this? Take a look at my very rudimentary sketch below (I am no artist!)

Becketts prevent the traps from piling up on one another and help to space the gear out evenly.

As soon as the groundline is finished being built and the traps have been gone through, it will be time to prepare the boat for the prawn fishery. This involves bolting the cage onto the stern, putting the live tank in place on deck, and bolting the sorting table in place. More to come on that soon!