Quick Response Project
The official launch of the Quick Response (QR) Code project at Regional Flavours Southbank.
Tunnel Net Code of Conduct
Moreton Bay Tunnel Net Fishery - Code of Best Practice
Moreton Bay Trawl Harvest Strategy Evaluation
Harvest strategy evaluations and comanagement for the Moreton Bay Trawl Fishery.
See you at Regional Flavours 2013!
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.
If you are a commercial fisher operating in Moreton Bay, MBSIA
invites you to join your peak regional industry body.
Have a voice on the local and state issues impacting you!
Read more on MBSIA membership...
Now in it's 10th year, Moreton Bay Seafood Industry Association (MBSIA) is the regional peak body representing commercial fishers operating in the South East.
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