We have an updated design for the Fishos car park.

Project overview

The Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority will upgrade the car park and surrounds at Fishermans Beach, known to many as Fishos.

The area, home to the Torquay Angling Club, Torquay Marine Rescue Service and Salty Dog Café, provides boating and beach access for the local community and visitors.

Fishos is a popular and much-loved area for all sorts of activities.

It has Torquay’s only boat ramp and when the fish are biting, it gets very busy. We want to make it safer, easier to access, and more enjoyable.

Tell me more about the Torquay Boat Ramp. open in new window

Latest design

Across two community engagement periods - in September 2022 and May 2023 - designs for the Fishos upgrades were presented, discussed, reassessed and finalised, thanks to input from the local community, user groups and other project stakeholders.

The community received the final designs for the Fishermans Beach car park upgrade positively.


Click here to view the Engagement Summary Report from the May 2023 engagement activities.


Fishermans Beach Carpark Design
Download the design. open in new window

Have Your Say - CLOSED

Tell us how to make Fishos safer and nicer


We want to improve Fishos at six key places we've identified, where it gets congested or risky.

Have Your Say on the six Fishos feedback points. open in new window

We also want to know what you think of how it looks and we'd love your creative input.

Have Your Say on the look and feel of Fishos. open in new window

Come chat with us

Last year, we showed you two different ways to design the car park to test ideas and asked for your feedback. You can see the old designs and what you told us in the link below. The main response was that there is not enough parking for both regular cars and cars towing boat trailers when it’s busy. You also said that making the place safer for everyone is very important.


Fishos car park engagement report and previous concept 2022


In 2022, you told us that Fishos can have a lot going on at once. It has two cafes, a family friendly beach, and a lot of water and sand activities. You can also fish, boat and take your dog here. While it will be an ongoing challenge to harmonise these movements, your feedback will help shape its success.

The precinct has two cafes, all-abilities beach access and is a great spot for kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, surfing, fishing, boating and walking. The Surf Coast Walk also runs through the precinct, and the area has many other usages. Balancing these demands will be an ongoing challenge.

We have been and continue to speak with key user groups that use or work at Fishos, to ensure the refined design works for everyone. These groups include:

  • Better Boating Victoria
  • Bomboras pop-up bar
  • Surf Coast Shire
  • Salty Dog Cafe
  • Torquay Angling Club
  • Torquay Marine Rescue Service
  • Torquay Outrigger Canoe Club
  • Torquay Bowls Club
  • Torquay Surfriders

We have a plan to improve the car park and surrounding area. We developed the plan to do this in 2020 with the former Great Ocean Road Coast Committee.

We have two main objectives at the car park:

  • Upgrade the car park. We want to make it easier and safer for everyone to use. We plan to keep the same number of parking spots for cars and boat trailers. We also plan to seal the surface so it’s cleaner, nicer, and drains better.
  • Reduce risk and make it safer for everyone who works or plays at Fishos. For example, we want to make crossings safer for people who launch and retrieve boats, use the beach access ramp, go to the cafe, walk their dogs or use the Surf Coast Walk.

The upgrade will also:

  • Make it better for the environment by using water wisely, improving the drainage, and installing pollutant traps.
  • Increase accessibility by building an access ramp that people of all abilities can use. This will encourage people to use the new access ramp rather than the boat ramp to get to the beach.
  • Improve the Surf Coast Walk by sealing this high use area. We’re considering what kind of crossings and access points we could have to improve this trail.
  • Adding a weight gantry and an historic winch.
  • Protecting the dune system in front of the boating car park by fencing and revegetation works.
  • Make the space at Fishos more enjoyable by:
    • sealing the car park
    • planting more trees to increase shade
    • making more paved areas
    • adding stairs and a ramp to get to the beach
    • adding board walks and additional seats
    • adding two outdoor showers
    • making the fish cleaning table bigger
    • adding bike parking

The Victorian Government is funding the design stage.

This funding is part of the $18 million Great Ocean Road Visitor Experience Uplift grant to make the visitor experience better along the Great Ocean Road.

The Torquay boat ramp has been identified in the Recreational Boating Strategy as requiring an upgrade and the Authority are working with Better Boating Victoria to identify funding opportunities for the construction stage.

Once detailed designs are completed, full costings will be prepared. Depending on available funding, the Authority may consider delivering the work in stages or to seek additional grants.