ASFB Home > Potential Changes in Prey Population Structure Following Removal of Predators by Fishing

Potential Surrogates for Benthic Communities of the Northern Prawn Fishery

Mick Haywood, Bill Venables, Scott Condie, Kenton Lawson and Rodrigo Bustamante

CSIRO Marine Research, CLEVELAND, AUSTRALIA

Theme: TH3

Trawling for prawns has a wide range of impacts on benthic ecosystems including the exploitation of several target species and by-products, the removal of benthic biota and the disturbance of the seabed. Australia’s Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) extends across most of Northern Australia. It is the country’s most valuable prawn fishery and has been well managed for much of its 30-year history. The Australian Commonwealth Government is committed to establishing a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) throughout Australia's entire marine environment, including the NPF. Extensive knowledge of the nature, distribution and abundance of the biota is a necessary precursor to any marine park planning. However, despite the substantial amount of scientific work in the area, this information is very patchy in the NPF. The aim of this study is to summarise the existing information and to identify gaps in this information to assist in the development of a comprehensive conservation scheme for the NPF. We plan to accomplish this by evaluating existing biophysical data-sets and assessing their potential to act as surrogates for discriminating benthic communities.