An Assessment of the Stocks of the Banana Prawn Penaeus merguiensis in the Gulf of Carpentaria

A stock assessment of P. merguiensis in the Gulf of Carpentaria was made by means of a yield per recruit analysis based on studies of migration, growth and mortality. Data were collected both from the commercial fishery and tag recapture experiments. No significant movement of tagged prawns out of the fishing grounds occurred during the fishing season. Estimates of the von Bertalanffy growth parameters (L∞ = 38.0 mm carapace length, K = 0.08 week-1) were obtained from the change in monthly size distribution of commercial catches. The natural mortality coefficient (M) was 0.05 week-1 while the total mortality coefficient (Z) estimates for fishing seasons during 1974-1976, ranged from 0.22 week-1 to 0.35 week-1. The corresponding estimates of the optimal size at first capture ranged from 30.6 to 32.6 mm carapace length. Despite the high rates of exploitation (E = 0.78-0.86), there was no evidence to suggest that recruitment had been adversely affected.