Members of the Warrnambool Field and Game Club will conduct the shoot between 5am and 11am in conjunction with the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Moyne mayor Jim Doukas said the shoot was part of the council's annual program to reduce fox numbers in the area.

"This is a farming area and we have a responsibility to protect lambs as well as wildlife," Cr Doukas said.

"We have had a couple of good seasons and, unfortunately, this leads to an increase in vermin because there are more food sources for them.

"The Mutton Birds on Griffiths Island are a tourist attraction over summer so that's yet another incentive to control the fox threat. Foxes are plague animals that could wreak havoc on an island full of young birds."

Before shooting starts, DSE staff and field and game club members will check the island to make sure no members of the public are in the field of fire. They will then prevent anyone crossing the causeway until the shoot is completed.

Staff from the DSE will also be available to provide face-to-face information on the fox shoot, and prevent public access to the area.

The fox shoot will particularly benefit the Griffiths Island mutton bird colony.

Each year the birds - also known as short-tailed shearwaters - arrive on Griffiths Island like clockwork on September 22 after migrating from the northern hemisphere.

The birds occupy the same nest as the previous year, with the same breeding partner, and raise chicks on the island during the summer then leave during April to spend our winter in the Aleutian Islands, near Alaska.