Precious island 'arks' under attack
The Southern Ocean is remote and inhospitable. Powerful winds, freezing temperatures and mountainous seas have kept most tourists away from its isolated Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands.
Gentoo penguins
© WWF-Canon/Kevin SCHAFER
But as the world runs out of wild frontiers, the Southern Ocean beckons as one of the last true wildernesses, and cruise ship operators are facing a growing demand for Antarctic voyages from travellers hungry for a truly unique wildlife experience.
One of the most popular of the Southern Ocean's remote islands is Australia's World Heritage Macquarie Island, which sits about 1500 kms south-east of Tasmania.
Macquarie Island is home to nearly four million seabirds, and provides critical breeding habitat for two threatened albatross species - the wandering and grey-headed albatross.
The island, along with Heard and MacDonald Islands, were nominated by the Australian Government for World Heritage listing in 1996 in recognition of their outstanding ecological qualities, and were listed as a World Heritage Area in 1997.
Macquarie Island is also a breeding ground for about 850,000 pairs of royal penguins and 100,000 seals. It is also the only island in the world composed entirely of oceanic crust and rocks from the earth's mantle and is an important source of information for geologists studying the earth's formation.
Rabbits and rats rule the day on Macquarie
But Macquarie Island is under attack and its World Heritage values are seriously threatened as invasive animals such as rats and rabbits, which were introduced to the island from the late 1800s by mariners and sealers, wreak devastation on the island's fragile ecology.
WWF's Invasive Species Policy Officer Julie Kirkwood says our failure to value the important conservation role of Australia's islands as a sanctuary for native species means we're running out of time to establish "arks" for the future.
"We need to make sure rabbits, rats and other invasive species don't destroy these critical habitats. Albatross are extremely faithful to their sites and are unlikely to breed anywhere else if their habitat is lost," says Julie.
Since the 1980s rabbit numbers on the World Heritage-listed island have jumped from about 10,000 to more than 100,000 today, which has decimated the islands distinctive tussock grasses and coastal slopes that provide shelter and materials for nesting seabirds.
Since humans arrived on Macquarie Island, it has been home to the world's invasive and domesticated animals, including horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, cattle, sheep, dogs, cats, rabbits, rats and mice.
On the blacklist of the most destructive visitors are feral cats (eliminated in 2000), rabbits, black rats and house mice. Some invasive birds, including redpolls and starlings have also become naturally established.
Rabbits are chief among the worst invaders to inhabit Macquarie Island, causing massive landslides after stripping vegetation and weakening hillsides. Recently a number of penguins were killed at Lusitania Bay when a denuded hill slope collapsed.
While rats and mice kill some seabirds in their nests, modern day pirates plying the Southern Oceans pose a major threat to adult seabirds.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Southern Ocean means long-line fishing causes massive damage to albatross populations.
WWF has been calling on the Australian and Tasmanian governments to feral and weed proof Macquarie Island. All rodents and rabbits must be eliminated and the island protected as what it is: a precious ark helping to conserve the remaining sub-Antarctic biodiversity.
On June 4, 2007 The Tasmanian and Commonwealth governments announced they had come to an agreement to fully fund the plan.
