photo of tiger prawns

tiger prawns

In the northern Australia fishery, tiger prawns are graded at sea into two sizes of pack: small packs (3 kilograms) and large packs (weight varies between 12 and 15 kilograms). The grades (by count) offered in each type of package are shown in the table.

Grade (prawns per lb.)	Carapace length (millimeters)	Small pack	Large pack
<6	>46	yes	yes
6 – 8	46 – 42	yes	yes
<10	>39	no	yes
9 – 12	41 – 36	yes	yes
10 – 15	38 – 33	no	yes
13 – 15	35 – 33	yes	yes
16 – 20	32 – 30	yes	yes
10 – 20	38 – 30	no	yes
>20	<29	yes	no
21 – 25	29 – 28	no	yes
26 – 30	27 – 26	no	yes
21 – 30	29 – 26	no	yes

Data from:
Michael F. O'Neill, David J. Die, Brian R. Taylor and Malcolm J. Faddy.
Accuracy of at-sea commercial size grading of tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus and P. semisulcatus) in the Australian northern prawn fishery.
Fishery Bulletin, vol. 97, number 2 (1999).

Pages 396-401. On web at http://fishbull.noaa.gov/18oneill.pdf