Tuesday, 18 February 2025

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:32): (1402) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Outdoor Recreation, and it relates to Labor’s decision to cut the number of fisheries officer positions by 27, to just nine, across Port Phillip Bay and Western Port Bay, and in doing so weakening enforcement efforts and leaving marine environments and recreational fishers and boaters at greater risk. The action I seek from the minister is to outline how this government intends to regulate frontline fisheries compliance, create positive education and protect our marine environments.

Port Phillip Bay and Western Port are two of Victoria’s busiest fishing and boating regions, and I have had the pleasure of speaking and meeting with locals and actually fishing off a couple of spots in my electorate. Effective regulation of the marine environment works to ensure that fishing, both recreationally and commercially, remains sustainable and provides maximum value for the community. Locals have told me that there is a fleet of five vessels that will soon be sold off and that they are at a loss as to how fisheries compliance will be completed with so few staff and without boats. There is enormous respect and cooperation between Western Port commercial operators and fisheries staff, and only last week this saw evidence collected on abalone poaching by divers in Western Port.

We know that Victorians love fishing and boating, and so I am raising their concerns about the cutting of these enforcement officers, which may well impact on the sustainability of a pastime loved by hundreds of thousands of Victorians. There is genuine community concern and industry concern about this government’s decision, and clearly it is a cost-cutting measure, given this government’s ever-increasing budget black hole. We know that the majority of people do the right thing – rules are only needed for about 2 per cent of the population – but they are concerned about how this government will ensure those oversights. Fisheries officers already carry a vacancy rate close to 30 per cent, and the state government is restructuring them. So in essence I am calling on the government to outline to the fishing community how it intends to continue to protect both the fish and sustainable fishing in relation to compliance and education.