The regional Victorian community of Portland, which lures tourists from across the country with the promise of catching a bluefin tuna, fears that a cut to quotas could result in a major hit to the town.

After $7 million was spent on upgrading Portland's marina to boost tourism and boating facilities, the recreational fishing industry in the state's south west is worried about a plan to halve bluefin tuna quotas.

The Federal Government's call for restrictions to nationally-consistent quotas of one tuna per person, per day sent a ripple through the community, where recreational fishing was estimated to be worth $12-14 million a year.

Portland is just one of many fishing towns around the country fearful of a cut to recreational tuna limits.

Charter-caught southern bluefin tuna being washed down in preparation for filleting at the public fish cleaning tables on Portland pier. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

Fishing tourists often travel four-and-a-half hours from Melbourne — or from even further afield — for the opportunity to reel in two bluefin tuna.

"[People] wouldn't come if it was only for one fish," Portland-based charter boat skipper Marco Quadara said.

"I've spoken to a lot of people and they're spending $250-$300 a day to come out here and catch fish.

"If they're gonna go home with one 10-kilogram fish, it's not hardly worth their while.

"We spent about 300 litres of fuel today, that's about $600. So that's already two customers just on fuel," he said.

Charter boat skipper Marco Qaudara spends numerous months in Portland, taking out customers who are seeking the southern bluefin tuna. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

Glenelg Shire Council mayor, Anita Rank, said halving the number of tuna allowed to be caught would "definitely will have an impact" and force businesses to close or leave town.

"That's something we don't want to happen," she said.

Welcome to tuna town

A typical Portland morning during tuna season. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

On a typical morning in Portland southern bluefin tuna season, the foreshore is busy with 4WDs and utes towing fishing boats. It's rush hour at the bait and tackle shops.

While protecting his catch from a seal loitering nearby, Warren Ashby said restricting his catch to just one fish would make the seven-hour journey from Albury less worthwhile.

He had already spent a lot of time and money for the opportunity to land two tuna.

"It's a long way to come for one fish, and this is probably the closest tuna from Albury," Mr Ashby said.

"We'll take it home, eat some fresh, some will go in the freezer, go onto the BBQ."

Tackle shop owner John Johnstone serves tourists from Dunkeld. The industry fears fewer people will come to Portland if quotas are halved. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

Each season, about 25 recreational charter boats operate in the area, taking six or seven customers each day into the comparatively shallow waters about 15 kilometres off the coast, or to the continental shelf 60 kilometres out to sea.

For most of these tourists, the drawcard is the guarantee they will get to catch, keep and eat two southern bluefin tuna — the perfect sashimi fish.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 19 seconds 19 s A fisherman throws this lucky seal some scraps from the Portland marina cleaning tables. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

A study commissioned by Glenelg Shire in 2012 found that anglers would travel, on average, 300 kilometres to fish at Portland, spending between $381-$508 each day in the town.

Joe Branca from Off The Hook Fishing, a Melbourne-based charter company which operates in Portland's tuna-rich ocean, has watched the recreational fishing industry grow over the last 10 years and believed a quota reduction would affect the whole town.

"Small fishing vessels like us actually bring a lot of business to towns," Mr Branca said.

"So it won't only be us that will be suffering — it'll be the small towns, the restaurants and pubs, fishing shops and accommodation that will be affected."

A few charter boat customers the ABC spoke to on Portland's pier said they would travel for just one fish, but the regulars — the serious tuna chasers who return year after year — said it would not be worth the effort.

Quota depends on where you are

Bag limits vary for southern bluefin tuna across Australia, as does its environmental status.

In New South Whales, where the species is considered endangered, recreational anglers had their bag limit reduced from seven fish to one in 2015.

In Western Australia, the daily bag limit is a mixed-species limit of three large pelagic finfish.

Victoria and South Australia both have two tuna per-person, per-day limits, and Tasmania has a possession limit of two bluefin tuna per person.

There are no size limits anywhere in Australia for the southern bluefin tuna, even though the species has a late-in-life reproductive age and can live for more than 40 years.

In addition to tuna-related tourism, Portland relies on industrial and agricultural import and export sectors due to its deep sea port. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

South Australia's Minister for Primary Industries, Tim Whetstone, said these inconsistencies along with new international concerns about the unknown quantity of Australia's recreational catch were the reasons nationwide quota reductions were needed.

Mr Whetstone referred to a new stipulation from the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), who assign each nation their allocated catch. This year, the CCSBT allocated Australia an extra 500 tonnes.

He recently re-stated previously quashed rumours that the Federal Government was calling for a limit of one southern bluefin tuna per person, per day.

"The Federal Government has said [they] will put a quota of one fish per person to account for the recreational sector's take on southern bluefin tuna," Mr Whetsone said.

"If we're going to have a recreational quota, it has to be uniform."

"For this to be successful, all states need to come on board and agree to have that one fish per bag limit.

"Let's be clear about this — how much tuna does one person need to eat?"

Tuna fishing off Portland involves small boats in big swells. This photo was taken 60km out, beyond the continental shelf. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

This prospect sticks in the throat of those in the recreational fishing industry, who have been set aside just 250 tonnes of Australia's 6,165 tonne total catch allocation.

The rest is held by the commercial fishing industry, which largely operates out of Port Lincoln in South Australia.

Councillor Rank has called for a federally-promised recreational catch survey to be carried out before any decisions are made.

"Until that survey is done, I think that they shouldn't be jumping ahead and making decisions based on anecdotal information or quotas from other states," she said.

"That would be the request, find out the viability of the industry and also take into consideration what it actually means to towns like Portland."

At the time of publication, commercial fisheries representatives Andrew Wilkinson and Brian Jeffriess were both overseas and unavailable for comment.