The maintenance of school prawn catches and the lack of any relative differences in size selection as bar spaces decreased implies that irrespective of their initial contact, all individuals were quickly orientated parallel to the angled bars (to pass through) and conceivably for many, across their width because this is their narrowest dimension.
This fishery involves 115 small trawlers (mostly <10 m and 110 kW) diurnally targeting school prawns, Metapenaeus macleayi (all <25 mm carapace length; CL) mostly during the Austral summer for annual catches of 400 t per annum valued at almost AUD $3 million.
The narrowest bar space (16 mm) was chosen to be slightly wider than the maximum carapace thickness of the largest school prawns, and based on established morphological relationships between CL and maximum carapace width (CW) and height (CH) derived for individuals (5-25 mm CL) in the Clarence River by Broadhurst et al.
ABSTRACT The school prawn (Metapenaeus macleayi) is important among commercial prawn trawler operators, but its harvest is affected in a complex way by a number of interacting water quality, and other variables.
The impact of river discharge on distribution and production of the school prawn Metapenaeus macleayi (Haswell) (Crustacea: Penaeidae) in the Clarence River region, northern New South Wales.
Burrowing, feeding, and spatial distribution of the school prawn Metapenaeus macleayi (Haswell) in the Hunter River region, Australia.
Species Common name Penaeus plebejus Eastern king prawn Penaeus merguiensis Banana prawn Penaeus longistylus Red spot king prawn Penaeus latisulcatus Blue-legged king prawn Penaeus esculentus Brown tiger prawn Penaeus semisulcatus Grooved tiger prawn Penaeus monodon Leader prawn, giant tiger prawn Metapenaeus ensis Red endeavour prawn Metapenaeus endeavouri Blue endeavour prawn Metapenaeus macleayi
School prawn Metapenaeus bennettae Greasyback prawn Trachypenaeus spp.
Abstract--The potential for changes to onboard handling practices in order to improve the fate of juvenile school prawns (Metapenaeus macleayi) discarded during trawling were investigated in two Australian rivers (Clarence and Hunter) by comparing a purpose-built, water-filled sorting tray against a conventional dry tray across various conditions, including the range of typical delays before the start of sorting the catch (2 min vs.
(2006) observed that the short-term (three days) mortality of juvenile school prawns was reduced from approximately 35% during conventional sorting to about 16%, simply by holding them in water-filled containers.