Hooked on Lakes Entrance a huge success!!
On Sunday, 12th March, Fisheries Victoria and the East Gippsland Food Cluster hosted the “Hooked on Lakes Entrance” event along the Lakes Entrance Foreshore on the beautiful sunny day.
This event was a collaboration between Fisheries Victoria, East Gippsland Food Cluster, East Gippsland Shire Council, Lakes Action& Development Association, Seafood Industry Victoria, Lakes Entrance Fisheries Co-Operative Limited, VRfish, and Fishcare Victoria.
The focus for this event was to showcase the importance of the commercial and recreational fishing industry to Lakes Entrance, through the promotion of high quality local seafood production as well as promotion of Lakes Entrance and East Gippsland as a key fishing and seafood tourism destination.
This event was a major success as thousands of people attended the seafood demonstrations by the chefs local top restaurants as well as the “cook off” with local personalities and tasting the best seafood the region has to offer as well and enjoying what the other organisations such as Fishcare Victoria attending on the day, had to offer.
Fishcare East Gippsland Inc supported this event with the Fishcare trailer and were extremely busy throughout the day, talking to people, handing out fishing resources and also conducting their educational fishing workshops which were very well attended throughout the day.
Fishcare East Gippsland facilitator, Jenny Allitt and Fishcare EG volunteer, Gary Stephens conducted these fishing workshops to groups of children and parents about the importance of using the 2017 Recreational Fishing Guide including the fishing rules and regulations, how to measure fish, how to handle fish and also how to return fish back into the water to ensure their survival and what native and pest fish live in the local waterways.
After the workshops, the children could then go fishing on the nearby Jetty to put their new skills into practice and Fishcare appreciated the effects of the Lakes Entrance Surf Lifesaving volunteers who manned the jetty all day to ensure safety around the water at all times.
As things did get hectic, Fishcare also thanked Fisheries Victoria for their assistance when needed and a great day was had by the children and parents attending these Fishcare educational fishing workshops.
Community engagement and such collaborations between different organisations all aiming for the one outcome, made this day a terrific success and Fishcare Victoria was always happy to be part of such events promoting sustainable fishing and the local industries.
