Licensing

Seafood

Under the Seafood Safety Act 2003, all seafood businesses in Victoria require a licence issued by PrimeSafe in order to operate.

PrimeSafe licence conditions require seafood businesses to comply with relevant Australian and Victorian standards that apply to each licence category.

Further detail on seafood businesses can be found here.

Seafood Processing Facilities

Seafood Harvesting Businesses

Seafood business

A seafood business requires a PrimeSafe licence if the handling of seafood for sale for human consumption is the main activity. The handling of seafood includes:

  1. the harvesting or collection of seafood;
  2. aquaculture;
  3. the maintaining of live shellfish, crustaceans and echinoderms for later processing;
  4. the depuration of shellfish
  5. the processing of seafood including (but not limited to)- 
    1. the skinning, gilling, gutting, filleting or shucking of seafood;
    2. the smoking, preserving, canning, curing or drying of seafood;
    3. the extracting, mincing, blending or slicing of seafood;
    4. the mixing of seafood with other substances;
    5. the cooking of seafood (other than the cooking of seafood for immediate sale for human consumption without any further processing);
    6. the packaging, storing and transporting of seafood.

The handling of seafood does not include:

  1. the maintaining of otherwise handling of fin-fish live for later processing; or
  2. the maintain or otherwise handling of live seafood intended for sale for the purpose of growing on.

Exemptions from licensing requirements

An exemption from the requirement to hold a seafood safety licence also applies in certain circumstances in relation to the following activities:

  1. The sale of live yabbies.
  2. Abalone harvesting, collecting, maintaining live for later processing or handling live for later processing.
  3. Rock lobster harvesting, collecting, maintaining live for later processing or handling live for later processing.

Further details concerning the applicability of these exemptions are available in the Seafood Safety Regulations 2014.

Further information