Shark Bay Prawn Sustainability

27 vessels are licensed to fish for prawns in the Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery. The species caught consist of king prawns, tiger prawns and endeavour prawns. The king and tiger prawn stocks are fully exploited. Total landings of major penaeids for the 2003 season were ~1632 tonnes, comprising approximately 1,145 tonnes of king prawns, 485 tonnes of tiger prawns and three tonnes of endeavour prawns. There were also 84 tonnes of minor penaeids (coral prawns) landed.

Owing to the multi-species nature of this fishery, levels of exploitation of king and tiger prawn stocks are being carefully monitored with the aim of achieving maximum sustainable catches simultaneously. Current stock and recruitment studies indicate that the king prawn stock remains at a point where recruitment is not affected by spawning stock levels.

At the current levels of exploitation, annual harvests will fluctuate due to fishing effort and environmental variation. Recruitment levels of tiger prawns during the 1980s were affected by spawning stock biomass. A reduction in the fleet size, together with area closures, has benefited tiger prawn stocks since this time.

However, continued increases in the catch of tiger prawns in the last few years have raised some concern and in 2001, a catch rate threshold for tiger prawns was implemented at a catch rate of 10 kg/hr to protect key spawning stock during the spawning period. Monitoring improvement in the efficiency of the current fleet is also required to ensure that tiger prawn spawning stocks are not overfished.

The project provides:

* an overview annual report on the status of the Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery, so as to meet Fisheries WA's statutory reporting obligation under the Fish Resources Management Act 1994;
* management advice as to the long-term sustainability of the Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery; and
* research to be directed to maintain Shark Bay prawn resources at ecologically sustainable levels and to maximise economic and social benefits derived from this resource.

Time: ongoing.