AGRICULTURE and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh is encouraging those with a love of fishing to provide their ideas on the future of fishing in Victoria by 1 March.
Mr Walsh said submissions were being sought as part of the Victorian Coalition Government’s Future Fisheries discussion paper.
He said the Victorian Government was committed to managing the community’s fisheries so:
• we continue to have healthy fish stocks,
• commercial fishers and charter operators can run their businesses with greater confidence,
• recreational fishers can continue to enjoy great fishing, and
• all Victorians can fulfill their cultural traditions, recognising the historic link between fishing and sustaining communities.
“Recreational fishing is worth $825 million to Victorian each year and creates about 5200 jobs, while commercial fishing was worth $47 million in 2009-10,” Mr Walsh said.
“We want to slash red tape and remove any out-dated rules, and to give all fishing sectors the opportunity to take greater involvement in fisheries management.
“Most importantly, we want to better protect the rights of commercial and recreational fishers to harvest fish on their traditional fishing grounds within agreed limits.”
Mr Walsh rejected deliberate misinformation circulating in parts of the fishing community about some of the proposals in the Future Fisheries Strategy discussion paper.
“The proposed strategy is not about marine parks, the Victorian Coalition Government has a clear policy of no new marine parks,” Mr Walsh said.
“Nor is it about setting individual quotas for recreational fishing. Fish bag and size limits will continue to be used to manage the fishery.
“No changes are proposed to the process for allocating Recreational Fishing Licence funds in consultation with the recreational fishing sector.”
Senior Department of Primary Industries staff are holding discussions with industry leaders and fishers across the state.
Submissions should be mailed to:
Future Fisheries Strategy
DPI Fisheries
GPO Box 4440
Melbourne Vic 3001.
The discussion paper and a summary information sheet for recreational and commercial fishers are available at www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fishing
