Every year the Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL) Trust Account allocates the fees you pay for a fishing licence to projects that directly improve recreational fishing in Victoria.

Large Grants Program

Through the 2019-20 round of the Recreational Fishing Grants Program – Large Grants Program, $549,354 will be allocated to the following 10 projects:

• $120,000 over two years for a Report Cards for Key Native Recreational Fisheries program. The Victorian Fisheries Authority will monitor ten key rivers in Victoria for nine popular native fish species and produce annual Native Fish Report Cards showing the condition of these recreational fisheries.
• $110,000 over one year for a Victorian Wild Trout Fisheries Management program. The Australian Trout Foundation will deliver a suite of programs to continue to monitor and address issues with the Victorian wild trout fishery, in line with key elements of the Draft Victorian Wild Trout Strategic Plan (2020-2025).
• $110,000 over one year for a Gippsland Lakes Habitat Restoration project. The East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority will install woody habitat in the Gippsland Lakes which will benefit key species such as black bream, estuary perch and Australian bass.
• $60,000 over one year for a Fishcare Responsible Anglers Academy program. Fishcare Victoria will deliver an education program which will engage with over different 50 schools and deliver over 250 responsible fishing workshops.
• $39,381 over one year for a Katie Peters Reserve River Restoration Project, Mitta River. The North East Catchment Management Authority will install habitat back into the river system adjacent to the ‘Katie Peters Reserve’ area and improve opportunities for people to catch fish.
• $24,921 over one year for a Rainbow Recreational Fishing Lake Access Improvements project. The Hindmarsh Shire Council will undertake works to create separate pedestrian and vehicular access points to this new recreational fishing lake in Rainbow.
• $24,238 over one year to increase fish habitat at Box-Pyramid Creek near Kow Swamp. The North Central Catchment Management Authority will install additional woody habitat and snag structures to improve the recreational fishery for native fish in the Box-Pyramid Creek.
• $23,000 over one year for a Fish Castles in the Gippsland Lakes project. Ozfish unlimited will undertake a project to build shellfish reefs in the Tambo Bay area of the Gippsland Lakes.
• $22,440 over one year for the provision of solar lighting along the St Helen's rock wall. The Association of Geelong and District Angling Clubs will manage a project to install solar lighting along the rock wall at St Helen’s which is a very popular land-based fishing location in Geelong.
• $15,374 over one year for improving fishing accessibility along the Campaspe River, Rochester. The North Central Catchment Management Authority will undertake a project to realign and secure a number of instream logs in the Campaspe River through Rochester to maintain fish habitat while enabling safe, open passage for recreational fishing.

Commissioning grants program

The following two projects will be funded through the 2019-20 round of the Recreational Fishing Grants Program - Commissioning Grants Program.

Informing sustainable management of Victoria’s wild catch fisheries

The aim of this project is to collect catch and effort data from recreational fishers at key locations in Port Phillip Bay, Western Port, the Gippsland Lakes, Corner Inlet and the coastal Lakes Entrance fishery. The information is vital in providing measures of stock abundance, population structure, mortality and the effectiveness of bag and size limits.

The cost of the project is $163,000. This will provide for 225 individual sampling days and will cover the Port Phillip Bay, Western Port, Corner Inlet, Gippsland Lakes and Lake Entrance coastal fisheries.

Communication and compliance products

The aim of this project is to continue the range of products that assist recreational fishers to understand and comply with fishing rules, without having to refer to legislative documents that are often difficult to comprehend.

The cost of this project is $290,000. The Victorian Fisheries Authority will produce and distribute the following products to anglers:

• 215,000 copies of the 2021 recreational fishing guide (including 10,000 in Chinese and 5,000 in Vietnamese)
• 200,000 fish length rulers (100,000 saltwater and 100,000 freshwater)
• 15,000 Murray spiny and general freshwater crayfish measures, and
• 20,000 Murray cod length/weight rulers
• 13,000 rock lobster measures.

Other RFL trust account expenditure

During 2019-20, RFL revenue will also fund:

• Increased fish stocking into lakes and rivers;
• The deployment of thirteen Fisheries Officers to boost enforcement and education;
• Initiatives and programs under the Target One Million Phase 2 plan;
• VRFish, to provide advice to the Victorian Government about the broad range of recreational fishers’ views on the management of the State’s fisheries resources;
• The Victorian Fishcare program, which delivers responsible fishing education and events to the community;
• Projects approved through previous rounds of the Recreational Fishing Grants Program for access and facilities, education, information and training, recreational fisheries research and fish habitat improvement.
• Recreational Fishing Licence commissions paid to sellers; and
• The costs incurred in the administration of the Recreational Fishing Licence, Grants Program and the Recreational Fishing Grants Working Group.

2019-20 Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Account Report

A report is tabled in Parliament each year concerning all RFL Trust Account revenue and expenditure. The 2019-20 Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Account Report is available for revenue spent in that and previous years.

Click here to view the report.
(PDF - 3.2 MB)