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Agriculture and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh is encouraging those with a love of fishing to provide their ideas on the future of fishing in Victoria by March 1.

Mr Walsh said submissions were being sought as part of the Victorian Coalition Government’s Future Fisheries discussion paper.

‘‘Recreational fishing is worth $825million to Victorian each year and creates about 5200 jobs, while commercial fishing was worth $47million in 2009-10,’’ Mr Walsh said.

‘‘We want to slash red tape and remove any out-dated rules, and to give all fishing sectors the opportunity to take greater involvement in fisheries management.

‘‘Most importantly, we want to better protect the rights of commercial and recreational fishers to harvest fish on their traditional fishing grounds within agreed limits.’’

Mr Walsh rejected deliberate misinformation circulating in parts of the fishing community about some of the proposals in the Future Fisheries Strategy discussion paper.

‘‘The proposed strategy is not about marine parks, the Victorian Coalition Government has a clear policy of no new marine parks,’’ Mr Walsh said.

‘‘Nor is it about setting individual quotas for recreational fishing. Fish bag and size limits will continue to be used to manage the fishery.’’

Senior Department of Primary Industries staff are holding discussions with industry leaders and fishers across the state.

Submissions should be mailed to Future Fisheries Strategy, DPI Fisheries, GPO Box 4440, Melbourne, Vic 3001.

■The discussion paper and a summary information sheet for recreational and commercial fishers are available at www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fishing