*

Tiger Prawn stocks in the Commonwealth, NT, WA and QLD are sustainable. There is one negligible stock in NSW. 

The standard name ‘Tiger Prawn’ refers to the species Penaeus esculentus, Penaeus semisulcatus and Penaeus  japonicus. Only P. esculentus (Brown Tiger Prawn) and P. semisulcatus (Grooved Tiger Prawn) are considered in this chapter; P. japonicus is not caught commercially in Australian waters. 

Brown Tiger Prawns are endemic to tropical and subtropical waters of Australia, while Grooved Tiger Prawns have a wider Indo–West Pacific distribution. There is some genetic evidence of separation of Brown Tiger Prawn stocks from the east and west coasts of Australia [Ward et al. 2006]. 

Here, assessment of stock status is presented at the management unit level—Northern Prawn Fishery (Brown Tiger Prawn) , Northern Prawn Fishery (Grooved Tiger Prawn) (Commonwealth); Torres Strait Prawn Fishery (Brown Tiger Prawn) (Jointly managed); Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery (Brown Tiger Prawn), Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery (Brown Tiger Prawn) (Western Australia), North Coast Prawn Managed Fisheries (Brown Tiger Prawn) (Western Australia; East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery (Brown and Grooved Tiger Prawn) (Queensland); and at the jurisdictional level—New South Wales (Brown Tiger Prawn).

Northern Prawn Fishery (Brown Tiger Prawn)

The base-case estimate of the size of the Brown Tiger Prawn spawner stock at the end of 2017 as a percentage of spawner stock size at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) (S₂₀₁₇/S_MSY) was 78 per cent (range across sensitivities 69–79 per cent) (Deng et al. 2018). The base-case estimate of the size of the spawner stock as a percentage of stock size at MEY (S₂₀₁₇/S_MEY) was 75 per cent (range across sensitivities 67–76 per cent). These results indicate a decline in biomass compared with the 2015 assessment. This decline appears to be largely due to poor recruitment in recent years (Deng et al. 2018), which is of some concern, particularly if this trend continues. However, the abundance indices are within the range of historical variability (Deng et al. 2018), and the 2019 recruitment survey showed that recruitment increased in 2019 (Hutton 2019). For the most recent assessment, the estimate of effort in 2017 as a percentage of effort at MSY (E₂₀₁₇/E_MSY) was 52 per cent. The estimate of effort in 2017 as a percentage of effort at MEY (E₂₀₁₇/E_MEY) was 42 per cent. Catch of Brown Tiger Prawn in 2019 was 908 t, up from 366 t in 2018 and below the base-case estimate of MSY (1 083 t). Recent fishing pressure is unlikely to cause the management unit to become recruitment impaired [Parsa et al. 2020]. 

On the basis of the evidence provided above, the Brown Tiger Prawn management unit in the Northern Prawn Fishery (Commonwealth) is classified as a sustainable stock

.

Northern Prawn Fishery (Grooved Tiger Prawn)

The base-case estimate of the size of the Grooved Tiger Prawn spawner stock at the end of 2017 as a percentage of spawner stock size at MSY (S₂₀₁₇/S_MSY) was 74 per cent (range across sensitivities 69–84 per cent) (Deng et al. 2018). The base-case estimate of the size of the spawner stock as a percentage of spawner stock size at MEY (S₂₀₁₇/S_MEY) was 63 per cent (range across sensitivities 58–64 per cent), indicating a substantial decline in biomass compared with the 2015 grooved tiger prawn assessment. This decline appears to be largely due to poor recruitment in recent years (Deng et al. 2018). For the most recent assessment, the estimate of effort in 2017 as a percentage of effort at MSY (E₂₀₁₇/E_MSY) was 49 per cent. The estimate of effort in 2017 as a percentage of effort at MEY (E₂₀₁₇/E_MEY) was 71 per cent. The 2019 catch of grooved tiger prawn (1 178 t) was up from 2018 (1097 t) but still below the base-case estimate of long-term average MSY (1 654 t). In summary, although spawner biomass has declined recently, these declines are within the range of historical variability. Recent fishing pressure is unlikely to cause the management unit to become recruitment impaired [Parsa et al. 2020]. 

On the basis of the evidence provided above, the Grooved Tiger Prawn management unit in the Northern Prawn Fishery (Commonwealth) is classified as a sustainable stock

.

Torres Strait Prawn Fishery (Brown Tiger Prawn)

The Torres Strait Prawn Fishery operates in the eastern part of the Torres Strait and south in nearby Queensland waters. This fishery is shared by Australia and Papua New Guinea under formal arrangements articulated in the Torres Strait Treaty. Brown Tiger Prawns are harvested at night using demersal otter trawl. 

The last full stock assessment, using fishery-independent surveys and biological data, of Brown Tiger Prawn in Torres Strait was completed in 2006 (O’Neill and Turnbull 2006). Since the 2006 assessment, additional biological and stock structure information has been collected (Turnbull et al. 2009) and further assessments using updated catch-and-effort data have been conducted. The most recent assessment update was in 2019, using updated information on fishing power and catch-and-effort data up to 2018 (Turnbull 2019).  

The 2019 assessment update indicates that Brown Tiger Prawn biomass has been steady over the recent decade, ranging between 60 per cent and 88 per cent of the unfished (1980) biomass. The assessment also found that fishing power has remained constant since 2000 (Turnbull 2019). The updated delay–difference model, using a Beverton–Holt spawner–recruitment curve and recent estimates of catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE), calculated MSY for tiger prawns to be about 617 t (90 per cent confidence interval (CI) 507–763 t), which is comparable with the 2006 assessment of MSY (676 t) (O’Neill and Turnbull 2006).  

Estimated effort at MSY (E_MSY) has dropped substantially, from 8 389 to 3 846 fishing nights (90 per cent CI 3 165–4 757 nights), because of the substantial increase in recent CPUE (mean ~160.3 kg/day) relative to that used in the 2006 assessment (mean ~73.5 kg/day) (O’Neill and Turnbull 2006; Turnbull 2019).  

Except for 2017, recent nominal CPUE for Brown Tiger Prawn (100–200 kg/day) has remained generally well above levels reported in the 1990s and early 2000s (50–90 kg/day) (Turnbull and Cocking 2019). 

Catch of Brown Tiger Prawn have fluctuated over time, closely linked to effort and ranging from a high of 965 t in 1998 to a low of 111 t in 2017. Catch has recently increased to 329 t in 2018 and 515 t in 2019. 

Although some uncertainty remains for this stock due to the absence of fishery-independent data (and particularly an independent index of abundance), total effort and total catch in 2019 were substantially below the updated E_MSY and MSY, and biomass appears to be substantially above the limit reference point [Butler and Steven 2020]. The above evidence indicates that the biomass of this stock is unlikely to be depleted and that recruitment is unlikely to be impaired. The above evidence also indicates that the current level of fishing mortality is unlikely to cause the stock to become recruitment impaired. 

On the basis of the evidence provided above, the Torres Strait Prawn Fishery (Brown Tiger Prawn) management unit is classified as a sustainable stock.

Brown and Grooved Tiger Prawn biology [Somers 1987, Yearsley et al. 1999, Kangas et al. 2015 a,b]

Commonwealth – Recreational The Australian Government does not manage recreational fishing in Commonwealth waters. Recreational fishing in Commonwealth waters is managed by the state or territory immediately adjacent to those waters, under its management regulations.

Commonwealth – Indigenous The Australian Government does not manage non-commercial Indigenous fishing in Commonwealth waters, with the exception of the Torres Strait. In general, non-commercial Indigenous fishing in Commonwealth waters is managed by the state or territory immediately adjacent to those waters. In the Torres Strait, both commercial and non-commercial Indigenous fishing is managed by the Torres Strait Protected Zone Joint Authority (PZJA) through the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (Commonwealth); the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Queensland); and the Torres Strait Regional Authority. The PZJA also manages non-Indigenous commercial fishing in the Torres Strait.

Queensland – Indigenous (management methods) for more information see https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/traditional-fishing

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