Pictured: The 2019 banana prawn season crew just before the season launched. Photo by David Carter
The 2019 Banana Prawn fishing season has successfully concluded and Austral Fisheries is pleased to report that the entire fleet came home safe and sound, with no reportable safety incidents recorded throughout the season. This was despite some truly epic weather and sleepless nights on their journey home.
Every year the lead up to April 1st brings with its eagerness, anticipation and months of preparation. This date marks the commencement of the banana prawn season for Austral Fisheries and our fleet of 10 prawn trawlers and, after meticulous planning, weather-watching and rainfall tracking, these vessels and their crew embark on their eight-week fishing trip in the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF).
According to Andy Prendergast, Austral Fisheries Northern Fleet Operations Manager, the 2019 banana prawn season catches were in line with expectations.
“Given rainfall is the biggest productivity driver for the banana prawn fishery and much of northern Australia remains in drought, reduced catches were expected across 70% of the fishery and this is how the season played out,”
One of the more significant highlights for Andy was the performance of the Austral Hunter in just its second season. Launched in 2018, the Austral Hunter was the first prawn trawler added to Australian fleets in over 10 years. Fit with state-of-the-art technology in a build that was guided by Austral’s focus on sustainability, week 8 of the banana prawn season showed that the Hunter was the most fuel efficient vessel in Austral’s NPF fleet. It is also the most effective.
Pictured: The newly built Austral Hunter
“The success of our newest boat the Austral Hunter was an incredible achievement for the skipper, crew and engineering team that worked tirelessly to prepare the boat for this season. Austral Hunter’s catches were 60% above the fleet average” said Andy.
This season also provided a chance to trial the OpenSC platform within our prawn operation. OpenSC is a digital food and product traceability platform developed by BCGDV and WWF-Australia. Powered by blockchain technology, most notably used for Bitcoin and digital currencies, OpenSC allows for complete and transparent product traceability from a product’s origin to the point of purchase. Consumers can simply scan a participating product with their smartphone’s QR reader to find out a huge range of product information. For banana prawns this might include Catch details, catcher vessel and the Skipper details.
“The Shearwater packed nearly 10,000 cartons of prawns with OpenSC RFID tagged cartons and a near perfect read rate. Austral also invested heavily in new dipping tanks that allow us to move away from the use of sulphites in prawns, which is an innovation that will reduce cost and improve product quality.” Austral CEO David Carter said. These innovations represent steps forward in Austral’s ongoing vision to further improve product quality, product provenance and open supply chain traceability.
Stay tuned for Part II as we look at the influence of mother nature on the season, and the developments in our safety procedures and standards.
Pictured: Sunrises and sunsets in the Gulf of Carpentaria are some of the best in the world. Plus barge day from above, and Skipper Brad Allen in front of the controls. Photos by Michael Pride (Instagram: @the.shrimp.mafia)