Huka Prawn Park has been a Taupō landmark for decades. It’s been a Taupō institution since ages ago, but Huka Prawn Park has been forced to close its prawn fishing facilities after numbers mysteriously went into decline. New Zealand’s only prawn park has been breeding tropical prawns in geothermally heated waters for 30 years and, over the past few years, numbers have dwindled. This year, numbers are lower than ever and it has left park staff and scientists stumped. Co-owner Richard Klein said he was “devastated” to have to temporarily close the prawn-fishing part of the park, which sits on the upper banks of the Waikato River.