Stock assessment of eastern king prawn (Melicertus plebejus)

Abstract

This assessment estimates the status of eastern king prawn across the Queensland and New South Wales trawl fisheries. A bioeconomic model was applied that incorporated commercial catch-effort data and economics. The stock assessment data inputs included total harvests, standardised catch rates and fishery independent density estimates. The analysis takes into account the effects of fishing power. Results indicate that spawning biomass egg production in 2019 was around 62% of the unfished level. A feature of this assessment is the use of the bioeconomic model to directly estimate the Maximum Economic Yield (MEY) for the stock. Results indicate that that the MEY is 69% of the unfished level.