The standard name ‘Tiger Prawn’ refers to the species Penaeus esculentus, P. semisulcatus and P. japonicus and the latter is not caught commercially in Australian waters. Brown Tiger Prawns are endemic to tropical and subtropical waters of Australia, while Grooved Tiger Prawns have a wider Indo–West Pacific distribution. There is some genetic evidence of separation of Brown Tiger Prawn stocks from the east and west coasts of Australia (Ward et al 2006). Since biological stock structure for these species is uncertain, stock status classifications are undertaken at the management unit level for fisheries in the Commonwealth, Queensland and Western Australia, and at the jurisdiction level for New South Wales (O’Neill and Turnbull 2006).

The brown tiger prawn is generally regarded as an endemic Australian species. It has a distribution around the top half of Australia and whilst the electrophoretic study on this species found no genetic differences amongst regions, there are a large number of functionally independent stocks. Each of these stocks is associated with relatively sheltered waters where there are also substantial amounts of seagrass. This species is generally found in coastal waters down to approximately 60m but has been recorded to a depth of 200m and is commonly found over mud or sandy mud substrates by trawlers (Buckworth et al. 2013).

In Exmouth Gulf, the tiger prawn stock is most abundant in the southern portions of the gulf, which is nearing the southern extremity of its distribution, as it is predominantly a tropical species restricted to northern Australia.

Stock assessments for the Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery (Western Australia) Brown Tiger Prawn management unit are undertaken using similar methods to those used in the Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery (Western Australia) (Fletcher and Santoro 2014). 

This fishery entered full assessment by the Marine Stewardship Council system in August 2014. Click here to link to the MSC fishery page and to learn more about the MSC fishery certification unit.