Saltwater Trust Allocation

2006/07 $131,225 2007/08 $123,854 2008/09 $83,796

Additional funding for this project is being provided by the Australian Research Council.

Aim

To assess optimal stocking strategies for eastern king prawns and to enhance recreational catches.

Background

It is estimated that NSW fishers harvest over 100 tonnes of prawns each year. The eastern king prawn Peneaus plebejus (EKP) accounts for approximately 83% of recreational prawn harvest in NSW. The large recreational prawn fishery in NSW is due to the large areas of seagrass cover in many NSW estuaries and closed coastal lakes. Recruitment into these lakes can be disrupted, as they are only opened to the ocean for limited periods. As a consequence of their receiving limited recruits, catches of prawns in these estuaries are variable, particularly if the period of estuarine opening does not correspond with the period of spawning. By stocking juvenile prawns we may be able to reduce year-to-year variation in recreational prawn catches and enhance recreational harvest of prawns. However, the environmental impacts of prawn stocking in Australia need to be studied, and suitable stocking levels determined before a large, ongoing program can be implemented.

Prawns are being stocked into Wallagoot and Back Lakes on the south coast. Predation mortality of stocked prawns as well as growth and diet will be monitored.

This project is closely linked with the mulloway stocking work and is being developed as an all-encompassing research proposal on estuarine restocking.