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High prawn stocks but low profits in Moreton Bay

Researchers from DAFF, CSIRO and the University of Queensland, working in collaboration with the Moreton Bay Seafood Industry Association (MBSIA) and MoretonBay prawn fishers, have found that despite healthy stocks of prawns in MoretonBay, the economic viability of prawn trawling in the Bay has declined over the last decade. 

 The study was funded by the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC).

 The fishery targets small but tasty Bay Prawns in the pre-Christmas period, and the larger, more valuable Brown Tiger Prawns and Banana Prawns during the height of summer and autumn.  Banana Prawns are very abundant in months following a wet summer.

Lead scientist on the project, Dr Tony Courtney from DAFF, says that both catch rates and annual catches of Brown Tiger Prawns in MoretonBay are the highest they’ve been since logbook records commenced in 1988.  “This seems likely to be due to good spawning stock sizes combined with favourable environmental conditions for the prawns.” stated Dr Courtney.  “The stock may have also benefited from the decline in fishing effort over the last few years.”

 The remaining trawler owners, however, are doing it tough, due to high fuel prices, competition with other prawns and limited marketing opportunities for their product.  The high Australian dollar has also meant that fewer Australian prawns are being exported.  This means that more prawns are available on the Australian domestic market, which also lowers the price that fishers receive.  “In fact, the study was an initiative of the MBSIA in response to declining profitability in the fishery”, said Dr Courtney. 

Dr. Graham Mair, Program Manager for Production Innovation at the CRC said “This project has provided some really useful new knowledge.  The modelling of the kind used in this project clearly demonstrates the potential for us to improve the economic efficiency of our fisheries whilst staying well within the key sustainability indicators”. 

MBSIA spokesman Dr David Sterling believes that at present fishers are competing too much with each other, rather than working cooperatively to reduce their costs and increase profits.  “Individual fishers frequently aim to catch the highest quantity in the shortest time” said Dr Sterling, “rather than working together to reduce costs and to catch/sell their prawns in a way that produces the highest returns to the fleet.  This project has suggested some corporate model structures of the fleet that could be used to promote collaboration, optimise marketing, reduce costs and give fishers greater control over the profitability of their businesses.”

Dr Sterling says the MoretonBay trawl fishery has gradually evolved into a smaller, boutique fishery targeting higher-value species than in past years.  “This was not by choice but rather to the prevailing business environment and the fishers’ inability to keep their traditional supply-chains open.  The industry has always been composed of many small scale operators, and over the years these have reduced in number.  Prawn marketing and industry profiling efforts are needed to entice consumers to appreciate again the uniqueness and quality of prawns that come from MoretonBay.”

Further information

Dr Tony Courtney (DAFF): 07 3255 4227 or 0434 075 410

Dr David Sterling (MBSIA): 0428 331 103

A full copy of the project final report can be downloaded from our projects page.