Hatchery:
Fourteen prawn hatcheries (15 in 2005–06) in Queensland produced an estimated 320 million post-larvae (338 million post-larvae in 2005–06).
The number of post-larvae produced has returned to stable levels of 320–340 million (Table 5). The between-year comparative figures are further complicated by the production of banana prawns where pond-reared spawners are being used for post-larvae production rather than obtaining spawners from the wild.
Labour:
The total labour employed on marine prawn farms over the last three years is shown in Table 6. The increase (29%) in permanent labour almost raises this total to the same levels as 2004–05.
The effciency of permanent labour decreased to 13.7 tonnes per unit, which was similar to 2004–05 but over 25% lower than the 18.9 tonnes in 2005–06.
Total casual hours employed has increased by 6% over the last 12 months from 136 300 hours to 145 676 hours. This has resulted in the casual hours per tonne increasing from 41 hours to 47 hours per tonne.
The dollar output per labour unit employed in the industry has decreased by 25% over the last 12 months. In the last 12 months FTEs employed in the industry increased by 23%. FTEs have increased from 245 to 302.
There were seven marine prawn hatcheries in Queensland that did not have growout ponds in the 2006–07 season. These hatcheries supply post-larvae to the growout sector of the industry. Responses were received from six of these hatcheries.
Three of the hatcheries produced black tiger post-larvae and supplied 30% of the marine prawn post-larvae sold in 2006–07 (or 12% of the total post-larvae stocked). The total value of production from these hatchery-only operations in 2006–07 was $1.9 million (compared with $0.9 million in 2005–06).
From the returns received, this sector employed 6 permanent employees (11 in 2005–06) and, together with casual employees, provides employment for 6 FTEs (11 in 2005–06). Total output per labour unit in 2006–07 was $87 100 (compared with $80 500 in 2005–06).
Industry development:
The prawn sector aquaculture industry development plan 2005–07 has now expired. An assessment was made and this was published in Australian prawn farming: development plan: implementation report.
The assessment showed that while some of the issues had yet to be resolved, the planning process was useful and an updated version of the industry plan was instituted. The next version has been finalised; this version will be published in early in 2008 and remain current until 2010.
The department and the Australian Prawn Farmers Association both expressed ongoing concern about biosecurity risks associated with importing green prawns into Australian. In July 2007, Biosecurity Australia, an arm of the Commonwealth Government, introduced interim quarantine measures prohibiting the entry of uncooked or unprocessed prawns.
Domesticated families of black tiger prawns (P. monodon) have been successfully maintained in commercial facilities, and the domestication of prawns is likely to progress; however, there is still a strong reliance on wild-caught broodstock.
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