Recreational Fishing Discussion

Last night saw a large crowd of keen fisher-persons hear from VRFish advocate Russell Conway, Travis Dowling from Fisheries Vic and Merv Hughes ex- cricketer and keen fisherman about what is being done in Victorian waters to help improve fishing and the environment in which we fish.
After an overview of what has already happened with regard to putting in structures, upgrading facilities etc it was handed over to the public to have their questions responded to.
Nothing was off limits and all responses were made with promises to consider all issues. Some of the issues covered were:

• Commercial fishing - quota restriction, where they can actually fish in the Gippsland Lakes eg - no closer to the the mouth of rivers than 400 mts etc.
• Environment - are people monitoring what is coming from the Latrobe River and the overflow of the open-cut? Fire retardant, erosion, etc.
• Habitat - more trees are needed but don't block access to rivers etc. 
• Money spent on infrastructure needs to have input from fisher-persons, not just the Fisheries making judgments.
• Politics - as a coherent group (VRFish) we can have more impact in what affects our fishing, therefore it is important to come to meetings and have your say about what you believe is necessary to make fishing better for all.

It was good to see a variety of interested parties in the audience as we had DSE, Ministerial Advisory Committee to name a few. Let's see what happens now!