The importance of the Purari River Delta to the prawn trawl fishery of the Gulf of Papua ( PNG).

Abstract

The main areas of recruitment of banana prawns into the fishery are the mangrove areas to the west of the Purari Delta with some isolated areas to the east. The poor fishing grounds directly offshore from these nursery areas compared with the grounds further to the west and east may indicate an adult migration away from these nursery areas. The grounds adjacent to Kereme and Cape Blackwood provide the highest commercial yield. Manipulation of the Purari watershed by trapping sediments in a reservoir may lead to a reduction of the mangrove habitat available for juvenile penaeid prawns, and such an effect would probably have considerable impact on the fishery.-from Author