Australia’s largest and most valuable prawn fishery, the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF), has entered full assessment for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.
Occupying an area of 771,000 square kilometres off Australia’s northern coast, the NPF catches banana and tiger prawns using otter trawling methods, and has been recently recognised by the United Nations as a global model for sustainable fisheries management.
The MSC assessment covers the 52 vessels represented by the client organisation, NPF Industry Pty Ltd. The annual catch is 1628mt of tiger prawns and 5,642mt of banana prawns worth approximately $80 million (AUD), sold on both the domestic and export markets, including Japan and China.
WWF (US and Australia) will be a co-client in the assessment with NPF Industry Pty Ltd, providing technical and financial support throughout the process. Independent certification body, the Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG), will evaluate the NPF against the MSC environmental standard for well-managed and sustainable fisheries. The MSC standard examines the sustainability of the target fish stock, the environmental impact of fishing operations and the management and governance systems that are in place.
Annie Jarrett, CEO of the NPF Industry Pty Ltd, says the industry is very excited about the decision to pursue MSC certification.
“We are very proud of our environmental performance and the eco-system based management practices we have adopted over a long period in the NPF. The NPF was the first fishery in the world to develop a by-catch action plan, which has been continually updated since its introduction in 1997. The NPF is also among the first major fisheries in the world to fully embrace both economic efficiency and environmental sustainability in an operational management system.”
