Victoria’s Government has established policies and standards to restrict commercial fishing activities.
How does commercial fishing cause damage to marine animals?
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Fishing policies for fish species
The government has established policies and standards for different fisheries in order to reduce the negative impacts of commercial fishing.
Abalone Fishery
The Abalone Fishery is one of Victoria’s most valuable commercial fisheries. Almost all of the catch is exported to international markets.
Eel fishery
The first commercial catches of eel were recorded in 1914 and until the 1950s the commercial Eel Fishery was based on supplying bait to the rock lobster .
Giant Crab
Giant crabs (Pseudocarcinus gigas) are fished commercially in western Victoria. The fishery is a small quota managed fishery is linked with the Rock Lobster Fishery.
Octopus fishery
Victoria’s new Octopus (Eastern Zone) Fishery harvests mainly pale octopus – Octopus pallidus – in East Gippsland using purpose-built unbaited traps which minimise bycatch.
Commercial Pipi Fishery
Pipi is the common name given to the small bivalve, Donax deltoides, which is found on high-energy sandy beaches in the intertidal zone. The Victorian Pipi Fishery Management Plan was declared in September 2018.
Scallop
In 1986, management of the Bass Strait Scallop Fishery was split between the Commonwealth, Tasmania and Victoria under an Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS).
Technology to manage fishing activities
In order to prevent commercial fishing vessels from overfishing in Victoria, the Victorian fisheries authority requires commercial fishing vessels in Victoria to install vessel monitoring system （VMS） in order to better monitor these commercial fishing vessels and ensure the sustainable development of Victoria’s marine resources.
VMS technology can monitor commercial fishing vessels
VMS devices are used to describe systems used in commercial fishing to allow environmental and fisheries regulators to track and monitor the activities of fishing vessels. The VMS will be used to provide the VFA with real-time information on the fishing period of vessels to ensure legal fishing when vessels go to sea.
Contact Victorian Fisheries Authority（VFA）
Fishermen who find the VMS unit on their boat stopped working while fishing must contact the operations watch immediately.
If you have any questions about the VMS system or administration, you can contact the VFA.