Bright future with Freshwater Fisheries Management Plan

30 October 2018

A new management plan for Victoria’s freshwater fisheries has been released that will further improve the health of our inland fisheries, the habitats that support them and build investment partnerships between anglers and natural resource management agencies.

Victorian Fisheries Authority CEO Travis Dowling said Victoria’s freshwater fisheries were in great shape thanks in part to record fish stocking of six million trout and native fish funded by recreational fishing licence fees and the State Government’s Target One Million plan to get more people fishing, more often.

“This Freshwater Fisheries Management Plan will take inland fishing in Victoria to the next level and help create angling destinations that will attract people from right across Australia,” Mr Dowling said.

Positive feedback received on the draft plan circulated in recent months has seen more emphasis on developing fisheries close to population centres, Chinook salmon, VRFish’s code of conduct, thermal pollution, commercial yabby and eel fishing, threatened fish and the 2018 Victorian Auditor General’s report.

There was support for the plan’s aim to closely align fish, water and land management by finding common ground and investment partnerships.

The development of the plan has already brought key investment partners together and facilitated exciting new projects worth more than $2 million including:

• Reviving the Maribyrnong River native fishery;
• Native fish populations surveys across 10 catchments;
• a new mobile app to monitor the performance of key recreational fisheries;
• the development of Kings Billabong native fishery, near Mildura, and,
• a new science project to improve native fish stocking outcomes.

River health restoration plans will be expanded through the establishment of a new Fish Habitat and Flows Roundtable, which is developing an agreement to use harvested timber as snags for fish.

The plan also identified the case to build a new native fish hatchery in northern Victoria.

A Working Group will implement the plan with representatives from VRFish, trout and native fish experts, traditional owners, catchment management authorities, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and research expertise.

To read the full plan visit www.vfa.vic.gov.au/freshwaterplan.