At a glance

The North West slope Trawl Fishery (NWSTF) extends from 114°E to about 125°E off the Western Australian coast between the 200m isobath and the outer limit of the Australian Fishing Zone, but taking into account Australian-Indonesian maritime boundaries.

Fishing is conducted with demersal crustacean trawls during the day and night along bathometric contours depending upon the target species sought.

Most operators in the fishery also fish in the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) and although the NWSTF is open all year, fishing effort is only normally applied seasonally during closed periods in the NPF.

At a glance
Principal species Scampi: Australiensis scampi, velvet scampi and boschmai scampi.

Deepwater prawns (penaeid and carid): pink prawn , red prawn, striped prawn, scarlet prawn, red carid and white carid prawn.
No. fishing permits as of June 2010 7
Main Market Domestic
Fishing methods Trawl
State of the resource Scampi = Uncertain (BRS, 2008)
OCS arrangements There is a current Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) arrangement between the Commonwealth and Western Australia determining relative management jurisdictions. Under the terms of the OCS, AFMA has management responsibility for all marine species taken by trawl in waters deeper than 200 metres, while Fisheries WA has responsibility for species taken with non-trawl methods in these waters (except tunas) and for all trawling in inshore waters. OCS arrangements are currently under review.
Consultation and communication The Western Deepwater Trawl Consultative Panel is the principal forum where issues relating to the Fishery are discussed.