Distributed from about 19°19' S, 117°13' E on the North West Shelf to Tweed Heads in New South Wales.

Commercial fishery: Sharptoothed snapper are caught by demersal otter trawling and some semi-pelagic otter trawling on the North West Shelf, Timor Sea and Arafura Sea and by droplines and wire-meshed traps in the 'Timor Box', an area covering approximately 68,000 square km northwest of Darwin where finfish trawling is prohibited. The dropline and trap boats work at the northern edge of the Timor Box, although they are extending their range.

Sharptoothed snapper made up part of the catch of foreign trawlers (Taiwanese, Thai, Chinese) operating in Australian waters since the 1930s (Ref. 27275). They are generally taken in water from around 100 m to the edge of the continental shelf. The greatest catches are made during early winter (April-June). Trawled catches up to 490 t per year have been taken from the Timor Sea (Ref. 27275), comprising by weight 91% gold band snapper and 9% sharptoothed snapper. In comparison, the ratio in a 1990 trawl survey off Northern Territory was 83% and 17% respectively. The highest catch rates by foreign trawl fleets were achieved in the Timor Sea (50-110 kg per hour) and the largest catches were taken between January and June (Ref. 27275).

Trapping on a regular basis commenced in the Timor Box in 1988, after an 18-month trial period over 1982-83. One vessel trapped for tropical snapper in 1988 and was joined by 5 more vessels in 1989.

Several trap designs have been used, the most successful being single entrance round traps and arrow traps and Western Australian 'D' or square traps. The traps are baited with oily fish, mostly pilchards (Sardinops neopilchardus). Gold band snapper (28-66 cm fork length) and sharptoothed snapper (30-60 cm fork length) dominate the catch (58%) from deep-water trapping. However, this percentage has decreased as operators also targeted red emperor (Lutjanus sebae).

Droplining in the Timor Sea and the Arafura Sea by Japanese vessels from 1975 to 1981 caught large quantities of tropical snappers - 54% of the catch over surveys conducted in October to December, 1980 (Ref. 28110). The vessels fished in depths of 70-140 m. Droplining by Australian vessels commenced in the Timor Sea in 1987 and by 1991, 3 boats were operating full-time. Highest catch rates are made in the early evening, and 80% of the total dropline catch is made up of these 2 snappers. The hooks are baited with squid, pilchards or cuttlefish (Sepia species).

Tropical snapper are sold fresh, chilled or frozen, either as whole fish, gilled and gutted fish, or fillets. The Darwin market for these fish is small, so most tropical snapper are air-freighted to the bigger markets of Brisbane and Sydney.

Recreational fishery: There is no recreational fishery for sharptoothed snapper in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. However, off eastern Queensland, this species together with gold band snapper, rosy jobfish and other tropical snappers such as P. argyrogrammicus/i> and P. sieboldii are caught incidentally as part of the general reef fish fishery for 'redfish' from boats fishing in the outer reef and sloped in waters deeper than 50 m.

Resource status: The size of the resource in the Northern Territory is being investigated. As well as fishing by domestic fishing fleets, the entire northern Australian stock is also being fished by foreign trawlers operating just outside Australian waters in the Timor Sea. It is not known whether the trawl and dropline-trap fisheries are harvesting the same stocks.

Museum: LPPL JIF205, from northwest Cape to Darwin (Ref. 5978).