Description

The kuruma prawn (Penaeus japonicus) is a subtropical prawn native to the Indian and western Pacific oceans. The northern coast of Queensland represented the southern limit of its distribution until the discovery of a small population near Mackay.

Farming Development

Farming the kuruma prawn for live export to Japan is one of the most recent aquaculture industries in Australia. Commencing in 1991, Australian farmed production reached over 200 tonnes in 1999-2000.

Initially Australian farmers used traditional Japanese farming methods. However, the industry has since developed more advanced production techniques including broodstock domestication, selective breeding, adaptive pond management, effluent treatment and partial recirculation.

Currently the only kuruma prawn producing state, Queensland, reported that five farms produced kuruma prawns in 2001-02. These farms had a total ponded area of 74 hectares. A stocked area of 70 hectares was used to produce 156 tonnes of kuruma prawns in 2001-02.

Stocking rates averaged 48 postlarvae per square metre, and the average yield was 2216 kilograms per hectare. The total feed consumed was 615 tonnes, implying a feed conversion rate of 3.9:1. The average import (cif) price of these prawns in Japan was $54.52 a kilogram, and the average import value was $8.5 million (DPI 2003). The largest producer of kuruma prawns in Queensland is the rocky point prawn farm near Brisbane, which has produced around 90 tonnes a year.

Kuruma prawns were farmed in New South Wales in the mid-1990s. However, no production has been reported since 1997-98. The main influences on production were seasonal weather conditions (production requiring high salinity) and the price received in Japan.

(Photographer: Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program)

( REF. Australian Aquaculture. Industry profiles for selected species)

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