The $100 million, joining the Australian history-making $400 million announced for six other charitable efforts last May, will pay to set up an Exmouth research facility that will coordinate a team of researchers from numerous Australian scientific organisations. They will have access to the 184-foot research vessel Pangaea Ocean Explorer, which the family has privately acquired for this purpose. Aboard the vessel atop the underwater Perth Canyon off Rottnest, one of the areas to be opened to commercial fishing if the marine parks legislation goes through, Mr Forrest also confirmed he had been for the past two years completing a PhD in marine ecology. Twiggy with some of the University of WA PhD candidates aboard the research vessel. Credit:Cameron Myles. He said his research had convinced him global commercial fishing and governmental practices were sending the ocean into a “hideous decline” and moreover, the Australian government had disregarded “bulletproof” science.

“Stripping marine parks back when we know they are hubs of sustainability ... should be of concern to every Australian,” he said. “The science has been basically ignored ... they must realise the tremendous damage it is going to do to our oceans.” University of WA Centre for Marine Futures director, Professor Jessica Meeuwig, who has publicly criticised the marine parks plans since their release, said the announcement and donation could be game-changers, coming as they did at a time when science was being undermined globally. They had the power to transform ocean research in Western Australia. “Our oceans are in serious trouble,” she said. “We have a Great Indian Ocean garbage patch. We need to pay attention to what’s going on in our oceans and that takes resources.”

Minderoo Foundation director Fiona David said beyond the campaign to save the parks, the foundation would collaborate with other groups to develop a Global Fishing Index that would help hold governments to account. It would bring together a vast amount of existing research and data on sustainable levels of fishing, and would make it accessible to the public in an easily understandable form to help ensure the long-term future of the oceans. The five-level Pangaea is home to seven smaller boats that can be deployed in a variety of environments for a variety of scientific purposes, such as shallow reefs and deep “bluewater” environments, and has powerful communications equipment for liaising with scientists anywhere in the world, no matter how far from land the ship is. Pangaea is ice-class, meaning it can and will be travelling into the Antarctic. Researchers aboard will be spending every hour of daylight sinking baited camera rigs deep into the water to track the species there, while specially programmed drones rove ahead and behind the ship recording life closer to the surface, such as dolphins, turtles, whales, rays and ‘basking’ sharks. The Pangaea Ocean Explorer, a state-of-the-art deep water marine research vessel purchased commercially by the Forrest family and to be loaned to marine conservation efforts. Credit:Cameron Myles. Forrest urged the Australian public to sign the petition from Save the Marine Parks before it is handed to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“I want your grandkids and my future grandkids to be able to go fishing,” he said. “I don’t want the fish to have already been pressed into a tin and shipped off to another country. “It’s time to put politics aside. “Suspend the vote ... take a breather ... make a decision to act in the best interests of our oceans and of the Australian people.” Labor and the Greens lost an initial battle in the Senate to block them.

The Greens in April lodged a further set of disallowance motions in a last-ditch effort expected to be voted on in August. Minderoo will collaborate with groups including the Sea Around Us, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Ocean Elders, University of Western Australia’s Marine Futures Lab, James Cook University’s College of Science and Engineering, The University of Queensland’s Centre for Marine Science, University of Technology Sydney, University College London’s Department of Geography, University of Plymouth, Global Fishing Watch, Eachmile Technologies (creators of Fishcoin), The Ocean Health Index, The Living Planet Global Footprint, Overseas Development Institute - ODI, FishSpektrum, WA Museum, The Red List Index, Luc Hoffmann Institute and WWF Australia. Credit:Cameron Myles. Other high-profile supporters of Save the Marine Parks include Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Birds of Tokyo, The Living End, Missy Higgins, Cody Simpson, The Hoodoo Gurus, The Avalanches and Something for Kate. Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg has previously characterised the new plans as “balancing conservation with certainty for those who made their living from oceans”. He has said making more areas open to commercial fishing means less economic impact on ports, reduing the impact on Fremantle Port by 61 per cent and for Albany by 40 per cent.