Prawning - the kind which involves live shellfish.

When I say “prawning”, I’m referring to the activity which (mostly Asians) people do at man-made ponds whereby they use a rod and hook to catch prawns.

I’m definitely not referring to this activity.

Anyhow, I realize that it’s a very popular activity over here, even with kids and females.

Ponds are normally so crowded with people that everyone is sitting chair to chair along the edges, with no room to swing their arms and rods, and only clears up around 6am or so. Even on weekdays.

A good prawner can catch up to 120 prawns over 3 hours. Just for comparison, I normally end the day with 40 on 2 rods.

So it got me thinking.

Why is prawning so popular?
                  Instant gratification

a.       Prawns bite very quickly. There’s none of the waiting time normally associated with fishing. Excitement levels are well maintained even when the prawn is caught because these prawns have large pincers which give the angler an itchy sort of nip when their fingers are in range. 

Removal from the suffering of the object

a.       Bait is normally chicken heart, or cut up shellfish. Therefore, its already dead. Some anglers do use their own live bait, but it’s the kind of bait which can’t actually scream when its poked.

b.      Prawns don’t make noise when they are out of the water, and they don’t bleed when hooked. This creates the illusion that it is not suffering – or at least, the signs are not that evident. 
Packaging and marketing

a.       It’s not a very dirty activity, most of the muck is quickly settled with a small supply of wet tissue

b.       Bbq pits where people can immediately cook their catch give people a mental justification that it’s ok to do this to the prawns because, I might be hurting them, but it’s for sustenance, and not just for my entertainment.