The Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF)  is highly regarded for its environmental achievements including the adoption of  ecosystem-based management and the development in 1997 of the Australia's first formal Bycatch Action Plan.

For many years, NPF fishers have voluntarily implemented a series of measures to minimise the impacts of trawling and to reduce their environmental footprint on the NPF. These include a complex system of spatial and temporal closures to protect fishery habitats (including seagrass beds and nursery grounds) and to maximise the size of prawns caught. Less than 12% of the area of the fishery is actually trawled during the fishing season.

NPF fishers are required to comply with the compulsory use of Turtle Exclude (TEDs) and Bycatch Reduction devices (BRDs) in all fishing nets.  The use of TEDs has significantly decreased the catch of turtles and large marine animals such as sharks and rays. Due to the successful reduction in turtle captures, the NPF has been accredited by the United States as ‘compliant’ under the stringent US turtle guidelines. As such prawns from the NPF are allowed to be imported into the US. Bycatch reduction devices are used to reduce general fish and crustacea bycatch - NPF operators are continually innovating and trialling new bycatch reduction devices to improve the effectiveness of BRDs.

Data is collected and analysed on bycatch species and total bycatch levels through the annual $250,000 Scientific Observer Program. Additional data is also collected on a voluntary basis by crew members who participate in the Crew Member Observer (CMO) program.  Currently 12 CMOs are collecting bycatch data from 52 trawlers each season. An annual CMO training program is held each year to ensure that the CMOs are trained in all aspects of species recognition and data collection.

Interactions with Threatened, Endangered and Protected Species (eg turtles, sea snakes etc) are recorded and reported to the relevant authorities. NPF fishers comply with protocols of the Commonwealth's Turtle Recovery Plan, the NPF Bycatch Action Plan,  the AFMA Crew Awareness Program and the NPF Industry Code of Practice for Responsible Fishing.

The fishery has invested heavily in research programs addressing the environmental impacts of fishing, with in-excess of $15 million spent on environmental research in the NPF in the past 10 years.

The NPF featured as a shining example of how prawn trawl fisheries can be sustainably managed under an ecosystem-based framework at a WWF forum on shrimp fishing which took place in Darwin in July 2008. A highlight for the international attendees at the workshop was a field trip to look at an NPF trawler, including TEDS, BRDs, trawl gear and the new electronic log book system (Catchlog) which has been adopted by the majority of the NPF fleet.