A TRAWLER arrived in Port Fairy Tuesday morning laden with fish - just in time for the Christmas rush - but scenes like this are becoming rare.

Commercial operator and owner of Port Fairy Fish Market, Bill Smith, said fresh seafood lovers were lucky the trawler was nearby with about 500kg of fresh and two tonnes of frozen prawns from the Rex Bay and Bilby Island areas on board.

"The fresh will definitely be sold (this Christmas)," Mr Smith said.

"(But) My personal opinion is that we won't see fresh seafood in the next 10 years," he said.

"Australia has gone totally over the top with its rules and regulations.

"We are the third biggest water mass in the world, but we have the smallest fishing fleet."

Mr Smith said only 200 fish trawlers were operating along the Victorian coast.

"A lot of them have had enough... they are sick of fighting the rules and regulations that different authorities impose," he said.

"They think they are ocean-going 'coal' boats but they are just small operators."

Skipper John Jones left Port Fairy bound for Portland about nine days ago. "We make the same as we did 20 years ago," he said.

And while prices for catches were the same, costs for trawler operators had skyrocketed, Mr Jones said.

Assuming prawns are sold in a perfectly competitive market; use the supply and demand dgrm to describe, ceteris paribus, what has caused the shortage of prawns as indicated in the news article.

Is this a supply or demand question?

Is the cause price or non price related

Explain the shortage & equilibrium process

Discuss the equilibrating process, and clearly outline the assumptions in discussing the factors causing an increase in price

Help on this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you