Blue Endeavour Prawn (Metapenaeus endeavouri) fisheries are located in Shark Bay, in Exmouth Gulf, on the north coast of Western Australia, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the Torres Strait and on the east coast of Queensland. Little is known about the biological stock structure of the populations of Blue and Red Endeavour Prawns that make up these fisheries. Hence, status is reported at the assessement unit level. The majority of catch reported is Blue Endeavour Prawn. Red Endeavour Prawn is represented in the East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery (Queensland), where it constitutes less than 20 per cent of the endeavour prawn catch, and in the Northern Prawn Fishery (Commonwealth), where it constitutes 20–40 per cent of the annual endeavour prawn harvest (Winning et al. 2014).

Fishery-independent recruitment surveys of Brown Tiger Prawns and Western King Prawns (at standardised sites on separate key fishing grounds for the two species) also record the abundance of Endeavour Prawns on these grounds, providing an annual recruitment abundance index for this species (Banks 2014).

The Exmouth Gulf Prawn Managed Fishery (Western Australia) contributes the majority of the commercial landings of Blue Endeavour Prawns in Western Australia. There is no formal assessment for Blue Endeavour Prawn, which is a byproduct species whose distribution partly overlaps that of both Brown Tiger Prawn (Penaeus esculentus) and Western King Prawn (Melicertus latisulcatus); Blue Endeavour Prawns are caught when fishers are targeting these two species (Banks 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.