A commitment to ecological sustainability

The Victorian fishing industry is committed to ecological sustainability, and sharing of marine resources amongst all stakeholders. This not only protects the ecosystems fishers rely on, but also ensures that professional fishers can continue to supply fresh, high quality Victorian seafood to Victorian consumers in the long term.

Seafood Industry Victoria believes that the best way to ensure a sustainable future for the marine environment, fisheries resources and Victoria's professional fishers is to use the best available science and use collaborative and equitable processes to manage fisheries. Simply put, there are enough fish for everyone when evidence-based and science-based fisheries management decisions are made, and Seafood Industry Victoria plays an important role in the process.

Victorian professional fisheries are legislated under the Victorian Fisheries Act 1995. Professional fisheries are managed through strict input and output controls. Input controls include: limits on the numbers of fishing access licences, gear restrictions, seasonal closures and limits on time fishing. Output controls restrict the fish that can be harvested from a particular fishery and these measures include: quota systems, total allowable catch targets, and bycatch limits.

There are annual fisheries management meetings between Seafood Industry Victoria, fishers, the Victorian Fisheries Authority managers, fisheries scientists and other stakeholders to discuss the status of individual fisheries and assess any management changes that are needed, such as changes to the amount of fish that can be caught each year. Independent scientific analysis and modeling is used to determine limits. Harvest strategies form an essential part of sustainable fisheries management and explicitly set out the objectives, performance indicators, reference levels and harvest control rules.

Over and beyond this, Victorian professional fishers have proactively adopted voluntary measures as an additional sustainability safeguard, and to reduce conflict with other marine users. These include; voluntary codes of practice, environmental management systems (EMS provides a systematic approach to recognising, assessing and mitigating environmental risks facing the fishery), and self imposed closures or restrictions.