It is estimated, for instance, that 40 per cent of the world's mangroves - watery coastal forest that defends the coast against rising sea levels and tsunami - have been destroyed to create tropical prawn farms.

Judges chose winners from a field of 39 products that ranged from Kiku Fisheries' Fresh-Frozen Sea Urchin Roe, to Tropical Prawn Tapas in oil marinade from Morubel NV, Thai-Thai Sweet & Sour Fish with Rice from CPF Europe SA, and Queen Scallop in a Creamy Garlic Butter Sauce from Fastnet Mussels Ltd.

Recent data from a tropical prawn fishery off northern Australia showed that on average 44% of individuals of a number of ray and shark species survived a trawling event (Stobutzky et al., 2002).

The size of some catches in our study may be larger than those of many other tropical prawn trawl fisheries in Australia and overseas.

Large tropical prawns are often called fresh, but they have usually been frozen previously and shipped or air-freighted 6,000 miles or more - and that process can take as much as a year.