From catching lobsters to growing pearls, Jane Liddon has lived an extraordinary life on the remote islands she calls home.
But she never imagined her work and her story would become part of a tourism event held in her backyard.
Jane moved to the Abrolhos Islands, 60 kilometres off the West Australian coast, as a child from England.
She has continued her father's legacy of commercial crayfishing using jet boats, and 20 years ago she diversified into pearl farming.
Her "boutique" pearl farm now produces pearls which are sold around the world, championed by Jane's son Jesse and his wife Michela, who designs jewellery.
Their passion for the family's pearls, and joy in sharing the story of the rugged but beautiful environment where they are grown, has seen them begin a new chapter in the Liddon family's life at the Abrolhos.
"And Jesse and Michela are running with that. I probably wouldn't have done it, but it's come to me."
For the past two years, the Liddons have hosted a weekend of long lunches for 60 people at a time on Post Office Island where they are based.
It's a new marketing strategy bringing the public to the pearl farm.
"Pearls and Plates is an event that we have created in the last few years that is combining all of our passions and loves of music, art, beautiful food, beautiful drinks and our pearls," Jesse said.
"And it just creates a nice feeling to have people on the island experience our family island, having a great time."
For Jesse, visitors to the island are the way of the future, but in a "light touch" manner.
"Maybe the [tourism] shift is going away from the traditional kind of fishing charters and it's going more towards what we do, which is high value, low impact," he said.
Creating tourism opportunities
The remote and pristine Abrolhos Islands are dotted with colourful shacks that are a base for lobster fishers while they work the local waters.
Some tourism operators take visitors to the islands, but the weather can make the journey from the mainland difficult, and regulations currently do not allow for guests to stay overnight on land.
Developing more tourism opportunities at the Abrolhos has been on the WA government's agenda for many years.
In 2017 it committed to "develop a new whole-of-government approach to better protect the Abrolhos and create tourism opportunities" and later this year it is expected to release a new management plan for the Abrolhos, integrating tourism, conservation, aquaculture and fishing.
Consultancy firm Agdots was contracted by the state government to meet members of the Abrolhos community as part of its preparation work to create a new management plan.
While it found most members of the commercial fishing industry supported marine-based tourism activities on the islands, it was also a point of conflict due to fears about tourism creating "risks" to the fishing industry.
For the past 19 years Jay Cox has chartered eco cruises to the Abrolhos, taking guests on a five-day sail around the islands.
He said developing an eco-tourism business had not been easy, largely due to opposition from some concerned by the prospect of people not involved in the fishing industry visiting the islands.
Mr Cox hopes a new tourism framework will allow him to have a permanent base on the islands and access to infrastructure like jetties and walking paths, things he says tourism operators can't currently develop.
"We cart everything over with every trip, if [we] could have a base over there with camps and things to house our staff and moorings, and have the boat based there and fly everyone in and out, it would be a lot easier."
Mr Cox said as more tourism was developed, the pristine nature of the islands must be retained.
"Bait balls and birds feeding on them, mackerel and tuna coming in, there's just so much going on out there."
Basic services needed for tourists
Crayfisher and pearl farmer Andrew Basile heads up the Southern Group body corporate, one of four of the fishing industry representative groups at the Abrolhos.
He said tourism, fishing and aquaculture could coexist and develop if managed correctly.
"We need capabilities for anybody in the reserve to make a phone call in an emergency.
"I would like to see some dedicated rescue resources and an increase in public mooring just for guys who've come up there on their boats."
