Licensing

Under the Seafood Safety Act 2003, PrimeSafe has the function and power to fix and charge fees.

PrimeSafe follows the Department of Treasury and Finance’s guideline for setting fees and charges. PrimeSafe applies the same indexation of fees to those applicable to the remainder of the Government sector each year.

All new licence applications must include an application and annual fee.

The annual fee for a wildcatch licence is based on the annual throughput (landed catch) and species harvested. Annual fees are calculated on a pro-rata basis with the exception of the lowest throughput categories of each licence category.

From 1 July 2018, harvesting and handling of live abalone and live rock lobster is exempt from PrimeSafe licensing.

Where a business harvests various species, the higher order of species as defined below determines the licence category.

1. Crustaceans (excluding rock lobster)
2. General - All species except abalone, crustaceans and noxious fish
3. Noxious fish permit

Once a licence category has been defined, all seafood harvested (except live abalone and rock lobster) is used to measure the throughput in establishing the annual fee. 

Throughput does not apply to Commonwealth Fisheries licence holders.

The current fee schedules for a wildcatch licence are below. All PrimeSafe fees are GST exempt therefore a tax invoice will not be provided following receipt of payment. 

Annual Throughput	Application Fee ($)	Annual Fee ($)
Victorian Wildcatch Crustaceans (excluding Rock Lobster)
Landed catch less than 1 tonne	156	311
Landed catch 1 to 5 tonnes	226	451
Landed catch 5 to 10 tonnes	309	618
Landed catch over 10 tonnes	448	895
Victorian Wildcatch General
Landed catch less than 10 tonnes	156	311
Landed catch 10 to 50 tonnes	267	533
Landed catch over 50 tonnes	448	895
Victorian Wildcatch Noxious Fish Permit
Landed catch less than 50 tonnes	156	311
Landed catch over 50 tonnes	226	451
Commonwealth Wildcatch
Throughput not applicable	448	895

Fee Calculator

To determine the total fee payable for a wildcatch licence, please answer the following questions.