HOOK, line - and stinker.

That's the view of Victoria's 721,000 anglers (you can't call them fishermen in these enlightened times) over a proposal to ban fishing along a large part of Victoria's coast.

Port Phillip, Western Port, Mallacoota Inlet, Bemm River and the Gippsland Lakes are among 20 sites where fishing would be scrapped if a proposal to create a swag of new marine parks gets the green light.

The Victorian National Parks Association (whose title makes it appear as though it is a government body, when it is, in fact, a green pressure group), last week threw a well-timed grenade by demanding the State Government increase the amount of water covered by marine parks.

What the VNPA wants is for all marine life in those areas to be protected - and that means banning commercial and recreational fishing.

In 2002 the Victorian Government introduced marine parks, banning fishing in 5.3 per cent of the state's water.

The VNPA now wants to crank that up, with fishing to be banned from 25 per cent of Victoria's coastline.

However, these sites are not isolated, inaccessible places - they are among the most popular fishing spots in the state.

The repercussions are horrendous.

Rural coastal communities from Mallacoota to Portland would face economic decimation if the Government adopted the recommendation.

Local businesses that sell food, bait, fuel and accommodation would immediately be hit for six.

This is no pie-in-the-sky proposal by a fringe green group.

The VNPA is a well organised and resourced group that knows how to run a campaign.

For instance, the VNPA led the charge to ban cattle from grazing the high country.

It chipped away at governments for years, building the perception that cattle wandering the high country was an environmental disaster.

The Bracks government eventually caved in and banned the cattle.

And now we see a similar tactic with fishing.

As Geoff Cramer, chairman of VRFish, Victoria's peak fishing body, puts it in The Weekly Times today: "The VNPA would have you believe that recreational fishing has a far bigger impact on the environment than a catastrophic oil spill."

Of course, the VNPA's timing is exquisite.

A November state election is likely to produce not only the first Lower House Greens member, but possibly the balance of power in the Upper House to the Greens.

If the Government doesn't agree now, then the Greens - who support more marine parks - will most likely flex their muscle and do a deal with any new government.

Environment Minister Gavin Jennings last week said the Government had "no plans" to introduce new marine parks.

This, remember, is the same Government that said there would be no tolls on EastLink and that it would never pipe water from north of the Great Dividing Range to Melbourne. Yet it did both.

It is difficult not to see the VNPA's marine parks campaign as a cynical move to trap the Government at a delicate stage of the electoral cycle.

Thousands of anglers and the communities that rely on fishing desperately hope the Government doesn't take the bait.

  • Ed Gannon is editor of The Weekly Times