March 31, 2025
Earlier this month, VRFish conducted a survey of Victorian recreational fishers regarding their recreational fishing priorities to help form a considered response from VRFish to the Minister for Outdoor Recreation regarding the proposed mass retrenchment of Fisheries Officers.
We received responses from 2,054 recreational fishers and, unsurprisingly, found that 95% of recreational fishers do not support the Victorian Fisheries Authority’s proposal to retrench Fisheries Officers.
So what else did we find out? When considering which areas of recreational fishing are most important to you, recreational fishers identified enforcement and compliance as the top area, followed by
fisheries management and water quality equally the second most important areas. Events and community engagement were the two least important areas.
The second section of the survey asked recfishers to identify how important a range of activities within the recreational fishing sector are to them. This included a range of activities, initiatives and programs under the broader areas of:
- Fisheries enforcement and compliance
- Fish stocking
- Events and community engagement
- Fisheries management and science
- Recreational Fishing Grants Program
When comparing all of the options listed in those questions, we found that the top five activities were from the area of fisheries enforcement and compliance and included one activity from fisheries management and science (due to an equal rank for #5).
Recfishers were also asked if they would be willing to increase how much they pay for a recreational fishing licence. We found 60% of recreational fishers would be willing to pay more for a recreational fishing licence. Of those who would pay more for a recreational fishing licence, $11-20 more per year was the most common increase recreational fishers were willing to pay.
Finally, we asked if recreational fishers are supportive of the proposal to retrench 27 Fisheries Officers in the Port Phillip Region. The response was very clear with 95% of respondents saying no.
When filtering the responses based on respondents who said ‘yes’ to question 10, we found some respondents were likely not actually supportive of the proposal when considering their comments in question 11. For example:
- “Without them policing our water many people will start to do the wrong thing”
- “To enforce the rules and protect our waterways, these Fisheries Officers are critical to the future of sustainable fishing and being able to take your family fishing and catch fish”
- “Fisheries are essential to ensure the health of our bays and oceans so generations can continue to enjoy fishing. Compliance work is important, education is not enough.”
- “It’s absolutely critical to keep Officers for compliance and educate the public.”
What can you do to help?
Stay tuned to VRFish as we’ll be putting out further statements and updates.
- Sign the Parliamentary Petition here.
- To stay up-to-date on the latest on recreational fishing in Victoria, sign-up as a free VRFish member.
