Fisherman's gift protects Lord Howe's marine life
By Linda Vergnani

Mike Rowley describes fishing off Lord Howe Island as "absolutely magical"

"You are 400 miles from any land and the island is a beacon for fish. If you can imagine a desert and in the middle of that is an oasis which every bird and every animal heads for, that is what Lord Howe Island is like. "

Lord Howe Island photograph © Ian Hutton

Until recently he held the only four commercial fishing licenses within the 12 nautical mile exclusion zone off Lord Howe Island and Balls Pyramid. This area includes the Lord Howe Marine Park, which contains the world's most southerly coral barrier reef and some 500 species of fish.

To prevent anyone else acquiring the rights and damaging the extraordinary marine life, he donated two of the licenses worth $250 000 to the Foundation. The two licenses also permitted bottom fishing along a broad band of the coast from Cape York in Queensland to Tasmania.

After lengthy negotiations with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), the foundation succeeded this year in having the right to bottom fishing around Lord Howe and Balls Pyramid permanently extinguished from the two licenses.

Not a conservationist
Leonie Gale, executive officer of the foundation, is delighted with Mr Rowley's unusual gift. "He did it because he is passionate about the area." It was the first gift to be made to the foundation under the Philanthropy Programme of the Income Tax Assessment Act.

Rowley, a South African migrant who founded the $100 million East Coast Tuna Fishery as well as Fortuna, says he is not a conservationist. His motivation in donating the permits to the foundation was to save the fish of Lord Howe island from commercial exploitation by future generations. He explains that Australia has been good to him and this is one way of giving something back to his adopted land.

His company held the licenses since 1983 but he says it utilized them only for fishing in a sustainable way in deep water. "Our activities had no impact on the ecology of the fish. We fished for pelagic fish which are highly migratory, with some degree of residency." The fish caught included rosy jobfish, kingfish and bar cod, most of which were exported to Hawaii.

Hand-fed black cod
The remaining licences held by Mr Rowley's Fortuna Fishery were the only two with a condition that allowed longline tuna, broadbill swordfish and marlin fishing within 12 nautical miles of Lord Howe. Mr Rowley says he has now had the condition extinguished. "We've surrendered our rights to enter the park for any fishing whatsoever. This means that all commercial fishing activity within the park has ended for all time."

Rowley is particularly fond of the huge tame black cod found off the island, which is a World Heritage site. He says the species no longer occurs on the New South Wales coast because it has been decimated by spear fishermen.

The black cod are protected in Lord Howe. "There are 30 or 40 of them. You can swim with them and hand feed them, although some have never seen a human before". He believes the species should be on the endangered list.

Leonie Gale says the Lord Howe fishing rights extinguished by the Foundation are worth about $200,000.

The remaining fishing rights worth approximately $50,000 in the two permits have been split off and will be sold by the foundation to support environmental conservation projects.

Saved from extinction
She says the organisation does not believe that selling the rights to demersal fishing on the rest of the coast will impact on the marine environment. This is because the licenses are subject to strict quota arrangements by AFMA and the total allowable catch will remain constant.

Gale who travels to Lord Howe each year says: "It is a jewel in the Pacific with all these rare plants and wildlife. The Lord Howe Island Board told us that if we could accept the gift [of fishing permits] they would be eternally grateful." The foundation has a long association with conservation on the island, having previously played a key role in saving the Lord Howe Woodhen. The species which is confined to Lord Howe had declined to less than 30 birds in the 1970s. It was rescued through a captive breeding programme, funded by the foundation, and by removal of feral pigs and cats. Gale says: "It has basically saved a species from extinction. Now we are looking at getting rid of the rats and other rodents."

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