If you love eating prawns, then here’s our guide to selecting the best prawns, serving and buying them in Australia.
About Prawns in Australia
Australians love eating prawns and consume all of their domestically produced prawns. Queensland is responsible for 40 per cent of Australia’s farmed prawns. Around 50 per cent of our prawns are imported.
Australia currently has four prawn fisheries certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard:
- Spencer Gulf King Prawn Fishery
- Northern Prawn Fishery
- Exmouth Gulf Prawn Fishery
- Shark Bay Prawn Fishery
Together, they account for around 60% of Australia’s supply of wild-caught prawns.
These fisheries have been independently verified to have healthy stocks of prawns. They have practices for minimising their impact on the marine environment and have strong management systems in place.
We consider the prawns from these fisheries to be the best wild-caught option. Consumers can find certified sustainable prawns from these fisheries by looking for the MSC blue fish tick label on prawns in their local supermarket.
Types of Prawns Available in Australia
Australia has a large range of prawns that are mostly caught in the wild. Unfortunately, due to overuse some of these species are now threatened. It’s important to give these populations a couple of years to recover so they can thrive again.
Prawns are farmed on land in tanks and ponds in both Queensland and New South Wales. These farms are well-regulated to ensure there is a minimal impact on nearby coastal ecosystems.
Stocks of western king prawns caught in SA are considered healthy.
“[Australian] consumers can be confident that Exmouth and Shark Bay certified prawns are a high quality, sustainable choice. Western Australians can be proud these local fisheries are meeting the world’s highest standards,” said Darryl Hockey, WA Fishing Industry Council CEO.
Better choice:
- Western King Prawn – SA
- Farmed Prawns – QLD, NSW
- Western King Prawn – SA
Eat less:
- Banana Prawn – WA, Commonwealth Waters
- Endeavour Prawn– WA, Commonwealth Waters
- Royal Red Prawn – Commonwealth Waters
- Tiger Prawn – WA, Commonwealth Waters
- Western King Prawn – WA
Say no:
- Banana Prawn – QLD
- Bay Prawn – QLD
- Eastern King Prawn – NSW, QLD
- Endeavour Prawn – QLD
- Tiger Prawn – QLD
- Western King Prawn – QLD
Overseas Prawns
Prawns are farmed overseas in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Unfortunately, these industries are unregulated and this has led to the destruction of vast areas of coastal habitat including extensive mangrove areas that can not be rehabilitated.
How to prepare prawns?
How to butterfly a prawn?
How do you serve prawns?
Prawns are popular at Christmas time. Look for prawn recipes by Jamie Oliver and on the Gourmet Traveller website.
Buy Prawns in Australia
You can buy prawns that are frozen, cooked or raw.
Find a Specialist Seafood Retailer (aka Prawn Finder) on The Love Australian Prawns website.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society’s GoodFish seafood guide can help you decide what’s the best sustainable seafood to purchase.
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