A local deputy has tabled a question in Congress asking the National Government if it has any idea why the Garrucha Prawn has vanished.
Not a one has been spotted since the spring, although, strangely enough, I noticed quite a few restaurants along the playa selling “fresh Garrucha Prawns” for about 120€ a kilo. Ah hem. Several of the prawn boats have given up the season and gone into dock, according to Europa Press.
The answer, so far, is that nobody knows, but someone has promised to look into the mystery. Suggestions such as a warm winter, lots of jellyfish, and migration to deeper depths (eh? migrating prawns?) have all been mooted by different Administrations.
Here’s my solution: overfishing + overpollution has killed them off. It´s also what most of the fishermen reckon. Not that you´ll get the local worthies to admit it.
When I was a kid, they used to serve them on special occasions at the school canteen. Which was nice. We didn’t appreciate them back then, mainly using the heads to squirt the juice at one another.