BUDGET cuts to the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) will result in up to 37 jobs being axed.
This is less than 6 months after the VFA advertised for an additional 9 Fisheries Officers to assist with Education and Enforcement of the Regulations in the Port Phillip Region.
The job losses will include science, management and fisheries officer positions. The VFA, according to a report in The Age, is also planning to close four bayside stations at Cowes, Altona North, Mornington and Braeside.
The current 73 Fisheries Officer positions throughout the state will be replaced with 36 Fisheries Engagement Officer positions, a 50% reduction, predominately focused on community engagement. {have they not Learn’d anything from our escalating Youth Crime Crisis in Victoria? – i.e. that Education alone is not enough. Real Enforcement and the imposition of justice is also necessary and essential!}
A spokesperson for the VFA stated that “Going forward we will be more focused on education and engaging the community with fishing, and some workforce changes have been proposed to reflect this.” “Our workforce will focus on keeping compliance levels high, and on major fishing crime, while working closely with the community to provide them the education and resources they need to fish responsibly,” said the spokesperson. “We’re confident our new operating model means fishing in Victoria will be as good into the future as it is today.” “We are consulting with employees and the union on workforce changes, and will provide all staff with the support they need through this period.”
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) CPSU called on the Victorian Government to put a stop to this restructure in light of the impacts on Victoria, the VFA workforce and the inducement it will offer to organised crime in our waterways. “This proposal raises huge safety concerns for our members who will be forced to work 1up in situations that can become unsafe very quickly,” said a CPSU statement. “We are very concerned for the worker safety in this proposed environment. We believe that the impacts of the proposal will have a significant impact on the sustainability of the fisheries environment.”
Our representative body VR Fish are also strongly Opposed to the reduction in Enforcement Officers and say “NO” to the proposal.
They noted that Ernst and Young (2020) ‘The Economic Value of Recreational Fishing’ found over 500,000 recreational fishers cite Port Phillip region as their primary fishing destination.
What can you do to help?
Stay tuned to VRFish as they will be putting out further statements and updates.
Meantime sign the petition linked below and write to the Hon Steve Dimopoulos Minister for Outdoor Recreation, your local State MP and Upper House representatives and let them know who you are, why recreational fishing is important and that you want a better outcome from the VFA reform process and how.
- The Hon Steve Dimopoulos Minister for Outdoor Recreation’s email and postal address is: reception.dimopoulos@deeca.vic.gov.au or Level 16, 8 Nicholson Street East Melbourne VIC 3002
- Find your local member and upper house reps here.
4. Sign the Petition here.
If you are writing to Minister Dimopoulos you can outline any of the following:
- 9 Fisheries Officers and a small Statewide specialist investigative team is not enough to sustainably manage the fisheries resources within Port Phillip region.
- The risk of incentivised poaching – through a lessening of available patrolling hours and area coverage – is too high.
- The impact of incentivised illegal fishing will cost more than the current budgetary savings proposed.
- Halt the current reform process and work with all VFA staff and the relevant union to identify areas for ongoing budgetary cost savings.
- Reallocate as many of the proposed redundant enforcement staff into already existing Fisheries Officer vacancies across the State.
- Find any cost savings gaps from other portfolio areas.
- Recreational fishers already heavily invest in VFA enforcement through our licence fees and deserve a say on service level reductions
It is time to act folks if you don’t want to see our fisheries destroyed by illegal fishing.
The Editor