August 26, 2024
Have you ever wondered how other Victorians go fishing?
In our recent advocacy priorities survey, we asked recreational fishers a range of questions which not only asked you to share your fishing priorities, it also allowed us to understand how you go fishing. This included how you access Victorian fisheries, the type of ecosystems you fish and the fish you target.
So, how do other fishers go fishing in Victoria? Do more people fish by land or boat? Are marine or inland waterways more popular with fishers? Which fish species are more likely to be targeted in Victoria? How satisfied with the quality of recreational fishing are Victorians? We’ve shared the juicy findings below.
We asked fishers to share what type of fisher they consider themselves to be based on the following descriptions of fisher types:
- Committed: fishing is the centre of your life; your social life revolves around fishing; you use high-quality species-specific tackle and always target a particular species.
- Advanced: fishing is your most important leisure activity; your circle of friends includes many anglers; you prefer high quality tackle and usually target a particular species.
- Active: fishing is one of many activities you enjoy; you occasionally go fishing with a few friends; you prefer common tackle and often target a particular species.
- Casual: fishing is not your most important leisure activity; social life rarely involves fishing; you prefer common tackle and target whatever is biting.
We found that 42% of Victorian fishers considered themselves as ‘active’ fishers.
The data shows more than 70% of recreational fishers go land-based fishing which emphasises the importance of ensuring we have safe and ongoing access to our piers and jetties, as well as our shorelines and riverbanks. And when we delve deeper, we found that more than half of recreational fishers who go land-based fishing also reported that they go fishing by boat.
Recreational fishers who go fishing land-based are more likely to fish inland waters while those who go fishing by boat are more likely to fish marine and coastal waters.
Marine and coastal waters were fished most frequently, followed by inland waters and estuarine waters.
When it comes to the most popular recreational fish species, the crown remains with King George whiting as the most targeted fish. This was followed by snapper, flathead (all other species), rainbow trout, brown trout, dusky flathead, Murray cod, calamari/squid, redfin and gummy shark rounding out the top ten targeted species.
A large majority of recreational fishers (approx. 87%) were on the spectrum of being satisfied with the quality of recreational fishing in Victoria (being either very satisfied, satisfied, somewhat satisfied).
Through our advocacy priorities survey, recreational fishers responded in droves to ensure their voice was heard. As the peak body for recreational fishers, it’s imperative that we give recreational fishers a chance to have their say, to share ideas and raise any concerns.
The advocacy survey is used to inform VRFish advocacy planning by ensuring we understand the issues that are most important to the recreational fishing community, and we are effectively representing their views when providing advice back to Government.
The response from recreational fishers shows us that recreational fishers want to have their say on issues that impact their fishing and continue to shape the advocacy work VRFish does to make fishing better in Victoria.
We recently revealed the results from our advocacy priorities survey which received a record-breaking response from nearly 5,000 recreational fishers. View the results summary here.
