Fishing is a sport that thousands of Victorians of all ages and all walks of life enjoy. Irrespective of the card your life is dealt, there has always been fishing as an escape, giving you solitude or companionship, whatever you want.

Apart from the basic enjoyment, there is always the challenge of catching that elusive fish to put on the dinner plate as a reward for effort.

However, these simple pleasures appear severely challenged if the Government gets its way.

While the social aspects are not directly at risk, the fish stocks are, and without the lure of a fish, the social elements wither.

As a cost-cutting exercise, the government’s decision to proceed severely reduces the enforcement capability of the Fisheries Department.

Many recreational and professional fishers remember how the lack of enforcement devastated fisheries that were stripped bare by unlawful fishing activities, sometimes by gangs, often created along ethnic lines to pillage our coast, Port Phillip Bay and some inland waters.

In times past, we nearly lost our crayfish industry through a lack of enforcement; more recently, the pillage of scallops devastated Port Phillip, which we understand has mainly recovered due to enforcement.

Public oyster rocks at Mallacoota were regularly stripped bare of oysters, although we don’t know if it has recovered. Organised gangs seemed to have been involved.

There are probably many more examples, including Inland fisheries.

Recreational and commercial fishers suffer because of the greed of a few.

If you want to protect your fisheries go to https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved/petitions/victorian-fisheries-authority-workforce-changes/

Every signature counts toward pressuring the Government to maintain enforcement and protect our Fishing.

Once our fisheries are lost to greed, they may never recover, and slipping down to the jetty with the kids will be pointless without fish.