Proposed changes to kingfish regulations

Summary

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

Recreational fishers have raised concerns that current recreational fishing regulations for the species are outdated, particularly the 5 fish per person day bag limit, being seen as beyond a reasonable day’s harvest.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, have reviewed bag and size limits for the species as well as scientific research and neighbouring jurisdictions management, and is proposing to reduce the bag limit from 5 to 2 kingfish per person per day.

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.

Recreational fishers are invited to have their say on the proposal by emailing taylor.hunt@vfa.vic.gov.au by 30 September 2025.

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.

In recent 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Recreational fishers have raised concerns that current recreational fishing regulations for the species are outdated, particularly the 5 fish per person day bag limit, being seen as beyond a reasonable day’s harvest.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 (see proposed management section below).

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 have discussed scientific understanding, stock status and fishery management arrangements for kingfish with other jurisdictions including NSW and South Australia.

Proposed changes

Given this context, the VFA propose to reduce the current bag limit of kingfish from 5 to 2 kingfish per person per day to:

• Better reflect rec fisher views of a reasonable day’s harvest
• Help share the catch amongst more anglers
• Reduce the chance of 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.

No changes are proposed for the current size limit for kingfish at this stage due to concerns that increasing the size limit beyond 60cm may significantly reduce the number of harvestable fish for casual anglers, whilst not have a meaningful benefit to the overall stock given other states current size limits and Victoria’s low catch proportion.

The VFA will however 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.

Further frequently asked questions are provided here.

Have your say

Recreational fishers are invited to have their say on the proposal by emailing taylor.hunt@vfa.vic.gov.au during the 30-day public consultation period of commencing on 1 September until 30 September 2025.

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.