Confirmed in time for this year’s Australia Day (26 January) celebrations, the country’s valuable Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) has been re-certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for a further five years.
NPF Industry Pty Ltd CEO, Annie Jarrett, welcomed the recertification of the fishery and highlighted the “long history of industry stewardship over the resource” as well as the partnership approach to best- practice management.
“Being recertified to the MSC standard for another five years is testament to our industry’s ongoing commitment to sustainability. And there is no better way for our consumers to share in this fantastic achievement than throwing sustainable NPF MSC-certified prawns on the barbie on Australia Day!” she said.
Located off the northern coast from Cape York in Queensland to Cape Londonderry in Western Australia, with a combined catch value in excess of AUD 100 million (USD 80 million, EUR 65.4 million), the fishery comprises three species – banana prawns (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis and Fenneropenaeus indicus), tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus and Penaeus semisulcatus) and endeavor prawns (Metapenaeus endeavouri and Metapenaeus ensis).
The Commonwealth-managed fishery was first certified by MSC in 2012 and was the first tropical shrimp fishery in Australia to achieve the standard.
Fishing takes place over two seasons: Season 1 (mainly banana prawns) takes place between 1 April and 15 June; and season 2 (mainly tiger prawns) takes starts on 1 August and finishes at the end of November.
In 2016, Australia’s tiger prawn catch totaled 2,158 metric tons (MT). In the same year, fishermen landed 2,904 MT of banana prawns and 274 MT of endeavor prawns.
The main landing ports are Cairns, Darwin, and Karumba. Most of the catch is fresh frozen on-board and periodically transferred onto motherships at sea.
