Angler support confirms kingfish bag limit change

Summary

Yellowtail kingfish are a highly sought after and valued recreational fish species in Victoria, typically averaging 5-10kg each.

Over the past five years recreational fishers have raised concerns that current recreational fishing regulations for the species are outdated, particularly the 5 fish per person day bag limit, being seen as beyond a reasonable day’s harvest.

The VFA, in partnership with recreational fishers, reviewed bag and size limits for the species as well as scientific research and neighbouring jurisdictions management and consulted extensively with stakeholders regarding a fisheries notice proposal to change the bag limit for kingfish from 5 to 2.

193 public submissions were received during the public consultation period between 1-30 September 2025. 79% of submissions were supportive of the proposal, including casual to avid recreational fishers, angling clubs, charter boat operators, spearfishing organisations and the tackle sector. 17% of submissions were opposed to the proposal and 4% of submissions did not provide a position on the proposal.

A VRFish survey conducted between 1-15 September 2025 of 1023 respondents found 72% were supportive of the proposal, and 28% were opposed to the proposal.

The proposal was also shared and communicated through four VFA social media posts (reaching over 262,000 views), online media, print media, radio interviews, podcasts, phone calls, email and public forums, inviting feedback through providing a submission.

The proposed changes are expected to:

• Better reflect rec fisher views of a reasonable day’s harvest
• Better share the catch amongst more fishers
• Reduce local depletion of the species during peak fishing periods
• Potentially improve the fishery quality through better sized fish
• Align with the bag limit of other offshore species such as gummy and school shark.

Click here to read the VFA media release.

The VFA will re-consult with recreational fishers on maintaining these regulations in 2026.

Given the shared stock of kingfish, the VFA will continue to discuss the scientific understanding, stock status and fishery management arrangements for kingfish with other jurisdictions including NSW and South Australia.

If you have questions or would like further information, feel free to contact Taylor Hunt, Manager of Recreational Fisheries, on taylor.hunt@vfa.vic.gov.au or 0418 478 028.

Background

Yellowtail kingfish are a highly sought after and valued recreational fish species in Victoria.

Over the past five years, kingfish averaging 5-10kg have been caught in Victorian waters such as Mallacoota, Marlo, Port Welshpool, Port Fairy, Portland, inside Western Port, and around the entrance to Port Phillip known as the rip.

Recreational fishers have raised concerns that current recreational fishing regulations for the species are outdated, particularly the 5 fish per person day bag limit, being seen as beyond a reasonable day’s harvest.

Particularly large numbers of kingfish caught and harvested at Port Welshpool and Mallacoota in recent seasons have been highlighted as potentially causing local depletion during peak fishing periods.

The current Victorian bag limit for kingfish of five fish per person per day was introduced in 2001 (24 years ago), whilst the current Victorian size limit for kingfish of 60 cm minimum legal length was introduced in 2009 (16 years ago).

In 2024 the VFA agreed to consider changes to bag and size limits to potentially benefit the fishery.

Since this time, the VFA, in partnership with recreational fishers, reviewed bag and size limits for the species as well as scientific research and neighbouring jurisdictions management.

On 1 September 2025, the VFA announced a public consultation process proposing to change the bag limit from 5 to 2 kingfish per person per day.

The proposal was informed by the best available scientific knowledge on kingfish, including a recent kingfish tagging project funded by recreational fishing licence fees led by Deakin University, interstate researchers and VFA scientists.

The proposal was shared and communicated through four VFA social media posts (reaching over 260,000 views), online media, print media, radio interviews, podcasts, phone calls, email and public forums, inviting feedback through providing a submission during a 30-day public consultation period between 1-30 September 2025.

Science and managements considerations

In considering bag and size limit changes which hope to benefit the kingfish, the population, and fishing community, it’s important to review and reflect on our scientific understanding and management context.

As such, the VFA has worked collaboratively with Project Kingfish and Deakin University to improve our scientific understanding of kingfish population dynamics. Coupled with existing data, we are gaining a greater understanding of:

• Stock status extending across Victoria, NSW, Qld, Tasmania, South Australia and Commonwealth waters.
• Movement, length and age composition, growth and reproduction
• Broad scale movement and habitat preference (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Connectivity patterns of tagged kingfish between bioregions showing the eastern Australian stock extends across jurisdictions (Source: Project Kingfish - Goddard et al. 2024)

Given the east Australian kingfish population and fishery spans all eastern Australian jurisdictions, it’s also important to understand the current recreational fishery management (Table 1) and catch (Figure 3) of the species in each jurisdiction.

Table 1. Current interstate regulations for recreational take of kingfish

Figure 3. Estimated catch percentage breakdown of kingfish across the eastern Australian kingfish fishery (total combined annual recreational and commercial catch data sourced from Status of Australian Fish Stocks).

Victoria’s estimated catch percentage of the eastern Australian kingfish fishery is small, particularly compared to estimated catch in New South Wales (Figure 3).

Given the shared stock, VFA Fisheries Managers will continue to discuss scientific understanding, stock status and fishery management arrangements for kingfish with other jurisdictions including NSW and South Australia.

The VFA will work with recreational fishers and neighbouring jurisdictions over the next two years to better understand sizes of kingfish and assess whether further improvements to management arrangements can be made in Victoria and in conjunction other jurisdictions to benefit the whole stock.

If you have questions or would like further information, feel free to contact Taylor Hunt, Manager of Recreational Fisheries, on taylor.hunt@vfa.vic.gov.au or 0418 478 028.