The search for a Canberra man missing off Lord Howe Island became a "body recovery operation" on Sunday, police say.
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The search for 20-year-old Jake Barrett was scaled back on Sunday afternoon, according to duty officer Guy Flaherty from the Mid North Coast Local Area Command.
The former Radford College student was last seen snorkelling about 20 metres off Middle Beach's shoreline at 2pm on Wednesday.
Difficult weather conditions hampered the search initially as winds of up to 45 kilometres per hour confined police and islanders to land on Wednesday and Thursday.
The island also recorded four metre swells on Thursday.
Commercial fishing boats and a light aircraft were used over the weekend to scour the coast.
"There is no government aircraft involved in the search," Detective Inspector Flaherty said.
"However a resident with his own light plane spent about 60 minutes in the air on Saturday."
