Skull Island
Skull Island is an island in Australia’s Northern Territory region and it’s where we catch the biggest tiger prawns in Australia’s Northern Prawn Fishery.
Caught, packed and snap frozen at sea from the pristine waters of Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria ensures that the prawn’s eating characteristics remain intactall the way from the ocean to your plate.
Skull Island is part of the Sir Edward Pellew Group of islands in King Ash Bay at the mouth of the McArthur River. The inshore protected waters adjacent to Skull Island provide the ideal habitat for tiger prawns. Large expansive seagrass beds, strong tidal movement and ample food allow juvenile tiger prawns to grow to sizes selected for the Skull Island brand.
The Prawn
Tiger prawns from Skull Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria are the biggest you can find in Australia.
Measuring up to 26cm in length and 100g in weight, these juicy behemoths of the prawn underworld are truly the king on the plate. Characteristic tiger stripes, striking fluorescent purple tails and their sheer size will leave you in awe as you experience Skull Island Tiger Prawns for the first time.
The Fishery
The Northern Prawn Fishery is often referred to as Australia’s last ‘wild frontier’, and is situated across Australia’s top end. The fishery extends from the low water mark to the outer edge of the Australian fishing zone. Its eastern extremity lies at Cape York in Queensland and stretches west to Cape Londonderry in Western Australia. The fishery covers approximately 880,000 km2, with less than 12% of that area being fished.
Austral operates 10 of the 52 licenced vessels in this fishery, which has been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable and well managed.
Sustainability
Certified ‘sustainable’ by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Skull Island tiger prawns come from the world’s first certified sustainable tropical prawn fishery. They are caught during the months of August to November each year, and only caught during the night to ensure minimal impact on bycatch. The remainder of the year is closed to fishing to ensure juvenile tiger prawns have ample time to grow into adults and reproduce.
Skull Island Tiger Prawns are now also completely carbon neutral, with Austral Fisheries being certified under the Australian Government Carbon Neutral Program.
The fishery has reduced fishing efforts from 312 boats in the early 1980’s to the current efficient fleet of 52 boats. Bycatch has substantially reduced as a result, and continued efforts to redesign nets and change operational aspects to further reduce impacts continues. Turtle bycatch is insignificant following new technology and designs for turtle excluder devices in the prawn nets which allow the escape of turtles and other large fauna unharmed and into the environment again.
Prawn stocks are maintained at healthy, sustainable levels with annual scientific sampling and surveys, as well as multi-year scientific review of the status of the fishery.
