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New call for Fisheries and Marine Officers
Date: Saturday, 8 August 2009
The Department of Fisheries is calling for people who are interested in a career as a Fisheries and Marine Officer (FMO).
The department has begun a recruitment drive in conjunction with an advertising campaign to attract new applicants.
Manager Strategic Compliance, Tina Thorne said FMOs played an important role in the community and, after training, the new officers could be appointed to numerous locations around Western Australia, from Broome to Esperance, or as part of patrol vessel crews or recreational mobile patrol units.
“Becoming an FMO is an exciting experience for people with an affinity for the marine environment, who enjoy interacting with a wide range of people and want to contribute to the management of WA valuable fisheries and aquatic environment,” Ms Thorne said.
“The officers are the public face of the department and they work to ensure people are complying with the State’s fish laws or marine safety obligations, which involves interaction with stakeholders, industry and the community in general.”
The new officers will help boost efforts to enforce new recreational fishing regulations, which come into effect in October this year.
The new recreational fishing regulations include:
“We help people decide if the work will suit them and their families, via a questionnaire on preappointment requirements that gives applicants the opportunity to put themselves through an early self-assessment checklist,” she said.
“The Department of Fisheries is seeking to appoint a large number of people to a pool and, from there, a number of appointees will undergo an intensive paid training program, before they are appointed as fully-authorised field officers.”
Ms Thorne said the comprehensive training course would run for 12 weeks in Perth.
“Our current team of around 90 FMOs can be involved in apprehending offenders or collecting evidence from the field, assisting with education and awareness programs or carrying out a range of commercial and recreational fishing compliance along WA’s coast, in our freshwater fisheries, or at aquaculture operations.
“When offences of a serious nature are detected, where prosecutions follow, the officers will be required to write statements and prosecution briefs and give evidence in court.”
More details about this employment opportunity and the self-assessment questionnaire are available on the Department’s website at www.fish.wa.gov.au. Click on the “jobs” link sub menu at the top of the home page.
The application period will be open for four weeks.
The department has begun a recruitment drive in conjunction with an advertising campaign to attract new applicants.
Manager Strategic Compliance, Tina Thorne said FMOs played an important role in the community and, after training, the new officers could be appointed to numerous locations around Western Australia, from Broome to Esperance, or as part of patrol vessel crews or recreational mobile patrol units.
“Becoming an FMO is an exciting experience for people with an affinity for the marine environment, who enjoy interacting with a wide range of people and want to contribute to the management of WA valuable fisheries and aquatic environment,” Ms Thorne said.
“The officers are the public face of the department and they work to ensure people are complying with the State’s fish laws or marine safety obligations, which involves interaction with stakeholders, industry and the community in general.”
The new officers will help boost efforts to enforce new recreational fishing regulations, which come into effect in October this year.
The new recreational fishing regulations include:
- Introduction of two new licence categories:
- a State-wide Recreational Boat Fishing Licence, and;
- a West Coast Demersal Scalefish Licence;
- Removal of the recreational umbrella licence;
- Changes to existing recreational fishing licence fees;
- A two month seasonal closure (15 October to 15 December inclusive) on the take of demersal scalefish in the West Coast Bioregion by recreational fishers; and
- Additional bag limit changes to medium risk and lower risk species.
“We help people decide if the work will suit them and their families, via a questionnaire on preappointment requirements that gives applicants the opportunity to put themselves through an early self-assessment checklist,” she said.
“The Department of Fisheries is seeking to appoint a large number of people to a pool and, from there, a number of appointees will undergo an intensive paid training program, before they are appointed as fully-authorised field officers.”
Ms Thorne said the comprehensive training course would run for 12 weeks in Perth.
“Our current team of around 90 FMOs can be involved in apprehending offenders or collecting evidence from the field, assisting with education and awareness programs or carrying out a range of commercial and recreational fishing compliance along WA’s coast, in our freshwater fisheries, or at aquaculture operations.
“When offences of a serious nature are detected, where prosecutions follow, the officers will be required to write statements and prosecution briefs and give evidence in court.”
More details about this employment opportunity and the self-assessment questionnaire are available on the Department’s website at www.fish.wa.gov.au. Click on the “jobs” link sub menu at the top of the home page.
The application period will be open for four weeks.
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