March 28, 2018
BREAKING NEWS
Dartmouth Pondage will re-open to land-based fishing from 1 May 2018. This access issue has been a massive drawn-out saga for us at VRFish since fishers were unfairly and unceremoniously banned from a terrific trout fishery 5 years ago.
Perceived risks concerning the “rapid” rate of rise and fall of water levels from hydro power generation, exposure to cold water and risk to infrastructure as a result of increased visitation eventually led to the stripping of fishing access and cessation of the trout stocking program in 2013.
From 2012 to 2018 VRFish has been advocating on behalf of recreational fishers with Government, Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW) and energy provider AGL to move the issue forward and negotiate a positive outcome.
Continued campaigning by VRFish resulted in the establishment of a multi-agency Advisory Committee led by DELWP in 2017 to investigate risks and identify mitigation actions related to recreational fishing on the pondage.
VRFish Board Member and North East Angling Association representative Joy Sloan has been tenacious on this issue, not letting unfounded bureaucratic red tape cloud commonsense solutions.
Its important to recognise the collaborative approach between all the agencies, particularly the Victorian Fisheries Authority to get this result.
Finally we can celebrate with the local Dartmouth community by throwing a line in very soon.
