Grey-headed albatross must be upgraded to Endangered: WWF
04 Jun 2007
WWF-Australia has lodged a submission to upgrade the threatened status of the grey-headed albatross from Vulnerable to nationally Endangered, due to the devastating damage caused by a rabbit plague on Tasmania's World Heritage Macquarie Island.
The south-west corner of Macquarie Island, at Petrel Peak, is the only breeding site for the grey-headed albatross in Australia. The suitable breeding area covers roughly 0.12 square kilometres, which is less than the size of a football field.
The whole area has been devastated by rabbit grazing, confirmed during a recent field inspection involving WWF. Rabbits have killed nearly all the tall tussock grasses on Petrel Peak's steep slopes. This small area provides the only nesting habitat for the grey-headed albatross in Australia.
WWF-Australia’s Program Leader for Biodiversity Andreas Glanznig recently returned from Macquarie Island where he witnessed the devastation caused by rabbits on the island. "It's hard to imagine the grey-headed albatross could nest there at all," Mr Glanznig said.
"The rabbit damage and subsequent erosion has caused more frequent landslides and albatross nests are literally falling off the slopes," he said. "With this being the only known breeding site in Australia, it is clear the grey-headed albatross faces a greatly increased risk of extinction in Australia as a result of this rabbit plague."
WWF has nominated the grey-headed albatross for reclassification from Vulnerable to Endangered under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, in the hope that it will receive the necessary action and protection to ensure its survival. Rabbits have increased significantly on Macquarie Island in the past decade, with numbers on the 34 km long island now estimated at more than 100,000.
A fight between the Tasmanian and Federal governments over who should pay to remove the rabbits has allowed the problem to escalate, and a rabbit and rodent eradication plan has been left gathering dust on the shelf. Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised to contribute $12.3 million, or half the cost, of the eradication effort but Tasmania has so far refused to contribute.
With the Tasmanian Budget being delivered this Thursday June 7, WWF hopes Tasmania can end the stalemate and commit to seeing the eradication put in place before it is too late.
Dr Andrew Burbidge, one of Australia’s island feral animal experts, who reviewed the plan for the Australian Government, said delaying the eradication plan any further would be devastating for Macquarie Island's bird life.
"Unless 100 per cent of funding is committed by the end of June at the absolute latest, the bait run will definitely be pushed back at least another year from winter 2009 to winter 2010. The loss of another year will be devastating for the island’s albatross, petrels, penguins and other seabirds," Dr Burbidge warned.
* Macquarie Island fact sheets, photographs and broadcast quality footage available on request
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Elise Hawthorne
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