March 15, 2022
We are excited to announce that there has been a major change to the VRFish Board. In recent months, we have appointed four new members to the VRFish Board – Skye Kirne, Hilary Ingram, Jingjing Nan and Lydia Cahill.
We also farewell longstanding Board members Russell Conway, John Hotchin, Joy Sloan and Halley Xu. We sincerely thank our departing Board members for their dedication to VRFish and contribution to making fishing better for Victorians.
Learn more about the newly appointed recfishers who are representing you on the VRFish Board below. All VRFish Board Members are listed on our website here.
Skye Kirne
You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl” is very fitting for Skye.
Skye was born in the Murray Cod region of northern Australia and now runs a successful travel agency – SKYE TRAVEL. The agency enables Skye to combine all of her passions – fishing, scuba diving & travelling. She even manages to call it work, and says, “someone’s got to do the research for clients.”
When Skye is in Victoria, you’ll find her in Port Phillip Bay, either in her tinnie fishing for anything on the bite or under the water scuba diving. Skye’s an active member of the Albert Park Yachting & Angling Club and often jokes around with her fishing companions.
In 2018, she joined the Victorian Fisheries Authority’s Women in Recreational Fishing program as a leader to engage, share and excite women about fishing. Skye has also been a member of the Victorian Fisheries Authority’s Statewide Recreational Fishing Roundtable for the past few years.
Skye has an active background in fishing all around Australia. While Skye was fishing for barramundi in NT, she was invited to join the VRFish Board, and accepted the role energetically.
Hilary Ingram
Hilary Ingram is a keen Melbourne born fisher who has travelled throughout Victoria to fish or scuba dive over the last 40 years. Though he has never been a member of a fishing club, he is a frequent flyer to areas like Lake Bullen Merri, Lake Purrumbete, Malmsbury Reservoir, Goulburn River and the Upper Coliban Reservoir.
In the last 20 years, Hilary has been dabbling in the world of scuba diving, completing approximately 1,000 recreational dives, mostly along the coastline of south-eastern Australia.
Hilary has been working in finance as an auditor for almost 40 years and continues to work full time specialising in auditing small to medium sized companies to ensure the fundamentals are in line with the financiers’ requirements.
Over the last 2 years, Hilary has gained increased exposure to regular fisheries meetings and attended as an observer to a number of Victorian Fisheries Authority Abalone and Rock Lobster meetings held in Queenscliff and Hastings.
Hilary has a strong belief that the interests of recreational fishers need to have a voice to help maintain sustainable and viable recreational fisheries for the current period and for future generations.
Jingjing Nan
Jingjing is currently the vice president and founder of Nan International Media. She is deftly experienced in marketing and event planning and is also skilled in business management.
Jingjing’s passions are fishing and scuba diving. She really loves the sea and believes that the marine world is full of mystery and fun. Her goals for 2022 include exploring the beautiful ocean world more and calling on more people to participate and fall in love with fishing.
Jingjing says “As a new member to the board of VRFish. I will try my best to assist the organisation in promotional work, and plan more interesting activities and projects to bring more vitality to VRFish.”
Lydia Cahill
Lydia is a highly experienced Senior Business Analyst and Project Manager contracting in the private sector, who brings a unique set of skills spanning across Aged Care, Health Insurance, Engineering and Infrastructure, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Information Technology.
From humble beginnings bait fishing for snapper and King George whiting, Lydia’s fishing passion developed into more specialised genres and is better known as an avid topwater / lure angler. Lydia fishes across Victoria for Southern bluefin tuna, yellowtail kingfish and occasionally Murray cod. Where possible, Lydia travels to a range of Australian and international destinations primarily in the pursuit of the mighty giant trevally.
She brings to VRFish an understanding of the needs and concerns of recreational fishers, combined with industry knowledge as a brand ambassador, Tuna Champions ambassador and Women in Recreational Fishing mentor.
Passionate about infrastructure meeting the needs of fishers as well as a strong conservation and sustainable fishing mindset, Lydia’s business skills will ensure that recreational fishers needs will be strongly represented.
