Grey-headed albatross face extinction on Macquarie Island
21 Nov 2006
The grey-headed albatross faces the immediate risk of extinction in Australia due to the destruction by rabbits of the birds' only known Australian breeding site on Macquarie Island's Petrel Peak, says WWF, the global conservation organisation.
Macquarie Island's Petrel Peak is used by about 80 breeding pairs of grey-headed albatross each year and is recognised as Critical Habitat under the Australian Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
Since the 1980s rabbit numbers on the island, which lies 1500 kilometres south-east of Tasmania in the Southern Ocean, have jumped from about 10,000 to more than 100,000 today. This has destroyed the breeding habitat of many of the island's seabirds, including that of the threatened wandering and grey-headed albatross.
"Macquarie Island's small breeding population of grey-headed albatross is extremely vulnerable to impacts to its limited nesting site, and there are only a few grains of sand left in the hourglass for this species in Australia," said Julie Kirkwood, WWF-Australia's Policy Officer for Invasive Species.
The grey-headed albatross is included on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species and is listed as Vulnerable to extinction under Australia's EPBC Act.
University of Tasmania scientist Dr Jenny Scott said Macquarie Island's Petrel Peak, which is the only known breeding site for the grey-headed albatross in Australia, had been severely affected by the island's rabbit plague.
"In the past five years Petrel Peak has suffered severely from rabbit invasion, causing significant damage including landslips," Dr Scott said.
"As a result there is likely to have been a reduction in available nesting habitat for the grey-headed albatross. This is significant as it is their only breeding spot in Australia."
Rabbits have already been found to impact on nests of other albatrosses on Macquarie Island. At one light-mantled sooty albatross breeding area, severe rabbit grazing over several years has contributed to almost half the nesting birds failing to rear a chick at the site in one season.
The number of rats and mice on Macquarie Island are also growing, with evidence of petrel chicks being killed in their nests by rats. Blue petrels are so seriously threatened on Macquarie Island that they can only breed on off-shore rock stacks.
WWF-Australia is calling on the Australian and Tasmanian governments to agree to a funding package for the $15 million Macquarie Island rabbit and rodent eradication plan before the end of 2006.
"We have run out of time. The survival of albatross and petrels on Macquarie Island depends on a quick negotiation by the Tasmanian and Australian governments," says Ms Kirkwood.
Find out more
Charlie Stevens, Press Officer, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1274
Mobile: 0424 649 689
Email: cstevens@wwf.org.au
Julie Kirkwood, Invasive Species Policy Officer, WWF-Australia
Phone: 03 9669 1303
Mobile: 0417 121 430
