VRFish Advocacy and Representation Review

Review of VRFish Advocacy and Representation: Are your recreational fishing interests being effectively represented?

As part of a 2019 review led by Marsden Jacobs Associates of Victoria’s recreational fishing licencing system, a recommendation was made to evaluate how effectively VRFish represents and advocates for the broad and diverse interests of Victoria’s recreational fishing community.

Click here to read the Marsden Jacobs report. (PDF - 1.1 MB)

VRFish, the Victorian Recreational Fishing Peak Body, was established 25 years ago to represent recreational fishers and has a charter to advocate for the interests of Victorian recreational fishers.

Recreational fishing in Victoria is one of the most popular and valuable nature-based pursuits in terms its contribution to Victoria’s economy and also the health and wellbeing of many Victorians – one in five to be exact. In 2015, an Ernst and Young study found that approximately 838,000 Victorians went fishing, undertook more than 6 million fishing trips and contributed $7.1 billion to Victoria’s economy.

This is why the task of representing and advocating for Victoria’s recreational fishing sector is so critically important and why the Government is committed to ensuring it is as good as it can be.

To implement the recommendations from the 2019 Marsden Jacobs report, a review of VRFish was conducted to ensure the broad views and aspirations of Victoria's recreational fishers were being effectively represented and advocated for. This review was overseen by a steering committee and an independent Chair.

Click here to download the final report on the review of VRFish.