Prawn Trawling Bycatch Welfare | Animal Welfare Hub

Prawn trawling has among the highest bycatch ratios of any fishing method, catching and discarding vast numbers of non-target marine animals.

Key Facts

Prawn trawling bycatch to target ratios can exceed 10:1 - ten kilograms of discarded animals per kilogram of prawns
Common bycatch species include juvenile fish, sea turtles, seahorses and various invertebrates
Most bycatch is discarded dead or dying after being crushed in the net and brought to the surface
Turtle Excluder Devices significantly reduce sea turtle bycatch in prawn trawl fisheries
Bycatch reduction devices in trawl nets reduce finfish bycatch with minimal impact on prawn catch
Certified sustainable prawn from non-trawl methods including pots, handpicking and certified farms has lower bycatch
Some tropical prawn fisheries have among the worst welfare records of any seafood type

Welfare Considerations

Prawn trawling bycatch represents one of the largest sources of preventable welfare harm in any food production system. For every kilogram of prawns consumed, multiple kilograms of non-target marine animals may have died as waste. Bycatch animals include sentient fish, sea turtles and marine mammals. Choosing non-trawl certified prawns or reducing prawn consumption is one of the highest-impact seafood welfare decisions consumers can make.

What You Can Do

Choose prawns certified from non-trawl methods including certified farmed, pot-caught or hand-picked
Ask prawn suppliers specifically whether their product is trawl-caught or not
Avoid tropical trawl-caught prawns which typically have the highest bycatch rates
Support regulatory requirements for turtle excluder devices and bycatch reduction devices in prawn trawl fisheries