About this summary

VFPAI is a Victorian advocacy organisation focused on fisheries regulation, compliance and governance reform. On 27 October 2026 we wrote to the candidates for the lower house seat of Williamstown, including the sitting member, Minister Melissa Horne, asking for their party and individual positions on Fisheries Officer numbers, the closure of the Altona Fisheries Officer station, fisheries science and the enforcement of marine protected areas.

We asked for a written reply by Monday 16 November 2026, ahead of early voting opening on 18 November, and for permission to share responses with our members and the wider angling community.

The background we put to candidates

Since the 2025 Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) restructure:

• Fisheries Officer numbers have fallen from 73 to 39 statewide, a reduction of about 47%.

• The Fisheries Officer stations at Altona, Braeside and Bendigo have closed, and the officers associated with Altona and Braeside were made redundant.

• Port Phillip Bay officer numbers have fallen from 26 (plus a regional manager) to 8, a 70.4% reduction. Mornington and Queenscliff each fell from 7 to 4.

• Specialist fisheries scientists have left the agency, undermining evidence-based fisheries management, and marine safety compliance inspections previously carried out by Fisheries Officers have ceased.

• The VFA’s own December 2025 to January 2026 compliance data shows statewide noncompliance of 16.9%, rising to 25.3% at Mornington and 30.5% at Queenscliff. That sits poorly against the above-90% compliance rate cited in 2025 by VFA Chief Executive Travis Dowling as the rationale for reducing officer numbers.

• Victoria has about one Fisheries Officer per 25,600 recreational fishers, compared with 1:9,400 in NSW, 1:10,100 in SA, 1:5,200 in QLD and 1:5,500 in WA.

• We also told candidates that we anticipate around 23 officers cross-authorised from the Game Management Authority function of the merged authority may be cited as an increase in compliance resourcing. Even if they are counted, total numbers remain well below the 73 in place before the restructure, and cross-authorisation may reduce the time available for core fisheries work.

Altona and the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary

The former Altona Fisheries Officer station lies within the Williamstown electorate. On 13 October 2026 the Labor Party announced an election commitment, made by the Member for Williamstown and the Environment Minister, to extend the boundary of the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary to include The Crystals. The Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) welcomed the commitment, while calling on all parties to match it, to reinstate fisheries officers and to expand and properly resource Victoria’s marine protected area network. A sanctuary is only as strong as its enforcement, and the VFA is the lead agency for enforcing fishing prohibitions in marine protected areas. The extension adds to that enforcement task at the same time as the Altona station has closed and Port Phillip Bay officer numbers have fallen by 70.4%.

The questions we asked

We asked each candidate for their own position and their party’s. Minister Horne was asked to respond as the local member, as a Minister, and on behalf of a re-elected Labor Government.

• Will you commit to reopening the Altona Fisheries Officer station?

• Will you commit to restoring dedicated Fisheries Officer numbers statewide to at least the 73 in place before the 2025 restructure, without counting cross-authorised officers toward that figure?

• Will you commit to restoring fisheries science capacity to at least its pre-restructure 2025 level?

• Do you support extending the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary boundary to include The Crystals, and if so, what additional enforcement resourcing would you commit so the extension can be policed? (Minister Horne was asked whether the extension will be accompanied by funded additional Fisheries Officer capacity, including at Altona.)

• We also asked for each candidate’s view on the Alliance’s preferred structure: a stand-alone Fisheries and Boating agency incorporating Better Boating Victoria and funded through the Better Boating Fund.

Responses received

The table below summarises each candidate’s position on our questions, with a fuller summary of each reply following it.