Sadly this is not an update I want to be sending, and it is a dark and sad day despite our best efforts to fight.

I want to thank each and everyone of you for your support, and voices towards the fisheries officers and the fishery of Victoria. 

VFA Final Structure Announced
The Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) has announced their final structure to staff on 20
May 2025. Here’s what that structure looks like for fisheries enforcement in Victoria:
- Mornington, Cowes and Queenscliff fisheries stations will be cut to 4 Fisheries
Officers each; reducing overall staffing of these locations from 19 Fisheries officers
to 12.
- Altona North and Braeside fisheries stations will be closed; a loss of 11 Fisheries
Officers.
- All current Fisheries Officer vacancies in the state will be abolished; a loss of 16
Fisheries Officers.
- Swan Hill, Bendigo, Wodonga, and Tatura fisheries stations will be reduced to 1
Fisheries Officer each.
- Portland, Mallacoota, and Lakes Entrance fisheries stations will be reduced to 2
Fisheries Officers each.
- Regional Managers will be abolished; a loss of 4 critical enforcement management
personnel. 4 Supervising Fisheries Officers across the state will be expected to take
on the workload of these cut positions on top of their current duties.
- The Fisheries Officer title will remain, but the following key responsibilities will be
removed from the position:
o Fulfilling the role of Case Officer for Operations
o Preparing affidavits and executing search warrants
o Conducting mention court prosecutions and providing evidence in court
o Conducting surveillance, land and vessel-based inspections, investigations,
operations and legal proceedings
o Participating in state-wide emergency response activities and response to
aquatic emergencies
o NC1 Coxswain certificate (the ability to operate vessels)
- Key selection criteria for the Fisheries Officer role will no longer include ‘Operational
Leadership & Effectiveness’ or ‘Decisiveness’.
- Advantageous qualifications for the Fisheries Officer role now also include:
‘marketing, media, communications, public relations, arts, and humanities’.
- The Statewide Investigations Group will be renamed the ‘Major Crime Unit’ and will
be reduced from 6 Fisheries Investigators to 4; a loss of 2 Fisheries Investigators.
What does this mean for fisheries enforcement in Victoria going forward?
- Fisheries Officers covering Port Phillip Bay and Western Port will be reduced from 29
to 12; a reduction of 59%.
- The total number of Fisheries Officers in Victoria will be reduced from 69 to 39; a
reduction of 44% statewide.
- Fisheries Officers in 1-person and 2-person stations will be expected to work on their
own, with the following criteria applying to that 1-up work:
o Must have at least 2 years of operational experience
o Must stay within mobile phone service for the entirety of the patrol
o Cannot conduct covert inspections
o Cannot work at night
o Must have access to back-up support within a reasonable timeframe
o Cannot work in remote locations away from population centres

o Cannot conduct enforcement activity in response to high-level offending
- There will be only 16 Fisheries Stations in the state; 4 of these will be 1-person
stations, and 6 will be 2-person stations. Therefore, only 6 stations will have more
than 2 staff.
- The Fisheries Officer role has been redefined in responsibilities to shift from
enforcement to education. Fisheries Officers will no longer have the responsibilities
outlined that support enforcement activity and will no longer have the capability to
conduct effective fisheries enforcement.
- The Fisheries Officer role will no longer include the requirement to operate vessels,
eliminating a core capability that allows enforcement to occur on the water and
leaving Marine Parks completely unprotected.
- The entire northern section of Port Phillip Bay will be completely unprotected. There
will not be a Fisheries Station within at least a 1.5hours drive of the busiest and most
non-compliant fishing areas in the state.
- The new Major Crimes Unit will not have the capacity to investigate organised
fisheries crime with a 33% reduction in the size of the unit.
- Fisheries Investigators do not conduct general enforcement activities; therefore,
most offending, will go undetected and will not have any consequences.
The bottom line: Fisheries Officers, as we know them, will no longer exist in the state
of Victoria. Our fisheries will be left completely unprotected, unlawful poaching activity will
skyrocket, and all our Fisheries Officers will be able to do is try to ‘educate’ offenders.
Will our Fisheries Officers still have their current authorisations and powers? For now, they
will, but they will not have the outlined responsibilities in their role or the support of the VFA
to conduct enforcement as they currently do. How long will it be before those powers, that
are critical to effective enforcement of fisheries laws, are also stripped from our Fisheries
Officers?
What will the next generation of Fisheries Officers look like when selection for the role does
not include ‘decisiveness’ or ‘operational leadership & effectiveness’, and those selected
have backgrounds in ‘marketing, media, communications, public relations, arts, and
humanities’?
The announcement of this structure is a dark day in the history of Victorian fisheries and
environmental protection and signs a death warrant for our fish stocks and fisheries
enforcement. It completely devalues the vital work that Fisheries Officers have done and
continue to do to make Victoria the pinnacle of sustainable fisheries management Australia
and makes a mockery of the Fisheries Officer name and legacy.
Make no mistake, our fisheries will never be the same again.