March 9, 2021
Fish stocking across the state is set to reach new levels together with the exciting construction of a new native fish hatchery at Arcadia.
During the current stocking season, the Victorian Fisheries Authority have stocked a record breaking 8-million fish across more than 250 waterways.
The new Native Fish Hatchery has reached its first milestone with earthworks commencing at the Arcadia site recently.
It’s an exciting next step towards Victoria increasing our capacity to grow more of our own fish in the state and ensure we are less reliant on commercial hatcheries in New South Wales to meet our fish stocking demands.
VRFish advocated for a native fish hatchery to boost our freshwater fisheries stocking program and ensure the existing Snobs Creek Hatchery could focus on salmonids, trout and cold-water native fish such as Macquarie perch and trout cod.
It is anticipated that the new hatchery will produce around 1.6 million native fish per year. A key Target One Million commitment from the Victorian Government, the new native fish hatchery is expected to be operating by November 2021.
Over the next year, we will see Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) working towards fulfilling a Target One Million commitment to stock a record 10-million fish across the state by 2022.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) recently released the draft stocking plan (April 2021 – March 2022) ahead of the annual Vic Fish Stock meetings involving many VRFish members and regional advocates. The final stocking plan will be released by 1 April 2021.
Find out what’s been stocked in your local waterway
The Victorian Fisheries Authority have stocked over 250 waterways across the state which means there are are ample opportunities to reel in a fish. Over the summer, they are generally stocking native fish which are now also stocked into metro-lakes so you can reel in Murray cod close to home. You can check out their Fish Stocking Database to see which fish have been stocked into your favourite waterway.
Let’s Make Fishing Better!
We value your local knowledge as to how our stocked fisheries are performing and how best to improve our fishing through fishing stocking.
If you have any comments or suggestions to make fishing better at your local waterway, please let us know via [email protected].
