Stock assessment of the Queensland (Australia) east coast banana prawn (Penaeus merguiensis) fishery

Abstract

The banana prawn fishery is characterised by highly variable catches, which are believed to be largely affected by environmental factors including rainfall, salinity, river flow and temperature. While extensive studies of banana prawn biology and population dynamics have been conducted in the Gulf of Carpentaria, relatively little research has been undertaken off the east coast of Queensland, and the influence of environmental factors on banana prawn catches is largely unknown.
This study was the first investigation of the status of the banana prawn stock off the Queensland east coast and used a regional (eight sub-stock areas), monthly based and age-structured model to represent the prawn stock dynamics. Due to the lack of biological studies on banana prawn from the Queensland east coast, biological parameter values of natural mortality and growth rates that were estimated in the Gulf of Carpentaria were assumed to apply. Standardised monthly catch rates (CPUE) of banana prawns were used as a relative index of population abundance.