The Prawn Association and its members are committed to the advancement of the Spencer Gulf and West Coast Prawn Fisheries in all aspects of management. The Prawn Association and its members have committed funds and resources into a number of projects for promotion, marketing, harvest optimisation, ecosystem improvements, and biosecurity to name just a few. The Prawn Association has also established a Research Sub-Committee, with stakeholder involvement, to deal with the many issues facing management of the prawn fisheries.
Funding of research and projects is contributed through: direct investment of the Prawn Association towards projects that will benefit its members; by licence holders through licence fees for stock assessment, economic and ecosystem research costs; by licence holders through licence fees to the Fisheries and Research Development Corporation (FRDC) and the Seafood CRC. FRDC and Seafood CRC funds can be applied for, to be used for further research studies that would have otherwise been too expensive.
The Research Sub-Committee has determined strategic priorities for research and developed a Project Proposal Policy to assist researcher providers in preparing for projects. The Research Priorites are the most important issues, where additional information is required to improve fishing operations or the prawn industry more generally. The Project Proposal Policy outlines how the Prawn Association would like to be engaged when a research provider would like support from the Prawn Association (ie to gain access to FRDC funding).
Millions of dollars have been invested into prawn research (ie movements, breeding patterns, seasonal variations, by-catch impacts, fishing practices including by-catch reduction devices, health etc), which has been used to enhance the performance and environmental outcomes of the prawn fisheries. In particular extensive tagging programs, juvenile studies (growth cycles, movement patterns and nursery areas) and stock surveys have been conducted or are conducted on a regular basis.
