This species has also been treated under the genus Disteira.

H. kingii is endemic to Australasian waters found on the northern coast and down to east coast of Australia, and on the southern coast of New Guinea. This species is naturally rare. Trawl bycatch data shows that it comprises a very small component of the sea snake fauna in the Northern Prawn Fishery and in the Queensland Trawl Fishery. The mortality rate in the Queensland Trawl Fishery was 26.7%, which is very high. Quantitative assessment of the impacts of trawling has shown that trawl mortality has caused some declines in this species in the Northern Prawn Fishery.There is no evidence to suggest that it is currently threatened with extinction, although it has been adversely impacted by commercial prawn trawling over the years. The recent decrease in the fleet size of the trawl fishery in the will reduce the bycatch of the species. This species is listed as Least Concern. However, it is recommended that the abundance of this species be closely monitored.

H. kingii is found around northern Australia from Broome on the west coast (Cogger 1975), Gulf of Carpentaria and Arafura Sea to New South Wales on the east coast of Australia (Cogger 1975, Limpus 1975), throughout the Great Barrier Reef and down to Rockhampton on the east coast. It has also been recorded from the southern coast of New Guinea (Cogger 1975, Heatwole 1999).

H. kingii is thought to be naturally rare. This species is known from bycatch in the Queensland  and Northern Trawl Fisheries and makes up a very small proportion of the catch (1%) (Courtney et al. 2010).

Trawl catch data of sea snakes were collated from research and commercial sampling from the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) between 1976 and 2007 (Milton et al. 2008). The results showed that the abundances of most species and all sea snake species combined have been relatively stable over the last 30 years. There has been a major reduction in the size of the NPF fleet in 2007 and there are currently only 52 vessels operating, compared with 96 vessels in 2006. This change in the level of fishing effort will further reduce the impact of trawling on sea snakes and add confidence to the assessment that current trawl catches are not adversely impacting populations in northern Australia.

E. kingii has a localized catch distribution in the NPF and shows evidence of recent declines in abundance on the fishing grounds. However, these fishing grounds only accounted for an estimated 15% of their available habitat within the NPF managed area. Nevertheless, the catch rates of these species should be monitored in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria as part of the new project to assess the sustainability of NPF bycatch from annual monitoring data funded by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (Milton et al 2008).

This species is found from 0 - 22 m depth (Trembath 2003, Redfield et al. 1978) over soft sandy and muddy substrates. It eats fish. It is also sometimes found in reefal habitats and have been caught from inter-reefal habitat in trawls on east coast of Australia (Courtney et al. 2010).

This species occurs as bycatch in trawl fisheries. It is captured in the Queensland Trawl Fishery, but makes up a very small proportion of the sea snake bycatch (1%) (Courtney et al. 2010). The within-trawl mortality in the Queensland Fishery was 26.7%. Post-trawl mortality experiments suggest that an additional 20% of snakes that are alive when the nets are brought to the surface die in the following hours and days after capture (Courtney et al. 2010).

According to Courtney et al. (2010), the risk of overfishing of sea snakes in the Queensland trawl fisheries to the point of recruitment failure appears low for all species. The risk of localised extinction on the east coast of Australia due to trawling also appears unlikely. However, an anti-conservative methodology was used to calculate the risk, and therefore should be considered preliminary and speculative assessments (Courtney et al. 2010).

Quantitative assessments of the impacts of trawling from the Norther Prawn Fishery on populations of sea snakes has shown that trawl mortality was below reference points and no species appear to be at risk at current levels of fishing effort (Milton et al. 2008). However, H. kingii had lower abundances and more restricted distributions that overlap with current high-effort trawling areas. This species may have been adversely impacted by commercial prawn trawling over the years (Milton et al 2008).This species has been previously identified as being potentially vulnerable to trawling due to catch rate declines, restricted distribution ranges and less productive life histories (Milton 2001). The continual reduction in the number of fishing licenses and contraction of fishing grounds in the NPF over the last few years will most likely reduce the number of sea snakes captured in the fishery (Milton et al. 2008). The catch rates of these species should continue to be monitored (Milton et al. 2008).

No sea snake species is currently listed by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). In addition, there currently are no specific conservation or management plans for any sea snake species. Sea snakes are protected in Australia as ‘Listed Marine Species’ under the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The provisions of the EPBC Act requires that all Australian industries interacting with protected species (including ‘Listed Marine Species’), directly or indirectly, demonstrate sustainability for the species impacted by their activities (Milton et al. 2008). In addition, the Fisheries Management Act 1991 requires fishing efforts to avoid captures of threatened and protected species such as sea snakes.

The Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF) in Australia has the largest impact on sea snake populations of any Commonwealth-managed fishery. The EPBC Act and the NPF’s commitments under its Strategic Assessment by the Department of the Environment and Water Resources, led to the commencement of a three year study on developing and implementing a long-term bycatch monitoring program for Australia’s NPF.  In addition, the NPF is required to demonstrate that its activities do not adversely impact sea snake species. Since 2003, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) have jointly run industry workshops to train crew-member observers in the identification, photography and recording of information on sea snakes caught in the NPF tiger and banana prawn seasons.

Management options for minimising sea snake catch through temporal or spatial closures are limited as sea snakes are widely distributed throughout the NPF managed area. The most effective option currently available would be to facilitate or legislate the adoption of effective BRD types (Fisheye BRD or Popeye Fishbox BRD at 70 meshes from drawstring) by the entire NPF fleet (Milton et al. 2008).