A sea of prawns

12 September 2007

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority has welcomed a report by the Northern Prawn Fishery Resource Assessment Group (NPRAG) into the stock assessment of the Northern Prawn Fishery which shows the recovery of two species of tiger prawns in the area.

Chairman, Tony Rundle said, ‘This is a great example of how industry, researchers and conservationists can work together over a five year period to achieve great results in managing a fishery’.

The 2006 CSIRO stock assessment for both tiger prawn species shows healthy stock levels and shows both species being either at or above maximum sustainable yield.

‘This achievement called for an severe cut to fishing effort with a 25 per cent reduction in the amount of trawling gear and a 15 per cent reduction in fishing time. A further 25 per cent reduction in fishing equipment was introduced in 2005 to reduce over-capacity and improve the economic return for the remaining fishers’, said Tony.

Ron Earle, Chairman of Northern Prawn Fishery Pty Ltd, said that NPF fishers are extremely proud of the responsible way they responded to challenges in their fishery. 

‘NPF operators have a long history of being proactive in addressing stock sustainability and ecosystem-management challenges. The NPF was the first fishery to develop a bycatch action plan.

The compulsory use of turtle excluder devices and bycatch reduction devices has been in place for many years. The fishery has also achieved accreditation under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

‘We are proud of how we manage our fishery and meeting our stock rebuilding targets for the tiger prawn fishery is another great achievement,’ he said.

A copy of the Northern Prawn Resource Assessment Group report is available at: www.afma.gov.au/fisheries/northern_trawl/northern_prawn/publications

Contact: Communications Manager - Media

Page last updated 21 September, 2007