Victoria’s fisheries department will be gutted under a proposed shake-up that will result in legal enforcement officers being removed and a 50 per cent cut to overall staffing.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) has put forward a proposal to close five stations around Port Phillip and Western Port Bay in a bid to meet state government funding cuts.
They would be replaced by three “community hubs” that focused on providing education to the public.
The department’s 73 fisheries officer positions throughout the state would be replaced with 36 engagement officer positions.
Of those, nine engagement officers would service Port Phillip and Western Port Bay regions, which the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) said was a 66 per cent reduction of staff.
Former supervising officer with the VFA, David Burgess, said the cuts would result in a significant rise in maritime crime and negatively affect the environment.
“If you took 100 kilos of abalone, which is easily done by a diver, that could be worth around $3,000 for someone in just a few hours work,” the officer of nearly 50 years said.
“Organised crime in Victoria at the moment, with the tobacco issue, it’s going to be an easy space to organised crime to get into.”
He said officers were needed enforce the law.
“If you have no one out there you can have all the rules you like but it doesn’t work, there will always be people who take advantage,” he said.
There are concerns the proposed plan will result in an increase in illegal abalone fishing. (ABC News: Angela Ho)
Boots on the ground
VFA chief executive Travis Dowling said the proposed organisational changes were intended to target people flouting the law.
“I’m mindful that for a number of staff affected by this proposal it’s a pretty difficult time,” he said.
“But overwhelmingly Victorians are sticking with our size and bag limits.”
He said 90 per cent of recreational fishers did the right thing.
“What we’re trying to refocus on is the threat from deliberate, major organised offending behaviour,” he said.
Mr Dowling said the new engagement officer job titles reflected the high compliance levels of “mum and dad fishers”.
“We’re putting our focus through the establishment of a new major fisheries crime unit on targeting high level offenders,” he said.
He said all of the authority’s officers would continue to be authorised and would be ready to act if recreational fishers broke the rules.
Travis Dowling says there is a focus on organised breaches of fishing laws. (Supplied: VFA)
Black market
Mr Burgess said the flow-on effects of a crayfish or abalone black market would be detrimental to commercial fisherman.
“We’ve gone to a lot of trouble to put in marine national parks to preserve biodiversity of the environment, and they’re just going to be plundered now by organised crime,” he said.
“It just shows a total disregard for the protection of our marine resources.”
He said the changes could potentially impact export fisheries as well.
“One of the items that states have to satisfy to the Commonwealth to get export accreditation is that you have a proper compliance regime in place,” he said.
“If you can’t do that then you can’t export.”
The VFA says it is targeting organised crime and illegal fishing. (ABC Radio Hobart: Lucie Cutting)
Ken Schwarzemberg, who has been fishing for more than 50 years in south-west Victoria’s Port Fairy region, said it was another “kick in the bum” for commercial fisherman.
“People are going to be robbing abalone, that will be rife again,” he said,
“Crayfish [and] whiting stocks will drop — people won’t even renew their licences it’s just going to be a free-for-all.
“We’ve already seen the effects of periwinkles and pipis disappearing around here because people come down with buckets and take them.”
Mr Schwarzemberg said he was concerned about the future of his business.
“The divers are just taking more and more, now we go down and we can’t always get a crayfish,”
he said.
Mr Schwarzemberg said there was a good chance the price he received for his catch would drop.
“And we’re already getting cheap imports from overseas in [the supermarkets],” he said.
“60 per cent of our fish is imported, that’s why the government doesn’t care about the fisheries officers.”
Crayfish fishermen are worried about the future of their businesses. (ABC Radio Hobart: Lucie Cutting)
‘Significant savings’
Mr Dowling said the Victorian government would receive significant savings if the proposed changes were enacted.
“But it’s not inconsistent with other government agencies,” he said.
“All governments do that.”
He said it was an expectation of the Victorian public that the government looked at efficiencies and making savings where it could.
“We’re confident that this proposal will be able to achieve those savings,” he said.
“At the same time we will continue to maintain our top notch Victorian fisheries.”
Minister for Environment and Outdoor Recreation, Steve Dimopoulos, did not respond to requests to comment.
