Only a matter of months left to save Macquarie Island's seabirds
12 Dec 2006
Peregrine Adventures and WWF-Australia have stepped in with $100,000 to kick start key parts of a plan to eradicate rabbits and rodents from the World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island, which is critical to the future survival of the island's albatross and other seabirds.
Only months remain to save Macquarie Island's threatened seabirds from the impacts of rabbits and rodents. Unless the Tasmanian and Australian governments agree to a funding package well before the Macquarie Island re-supply ship departs in March 2007, the opportunity to implement the eradication plan will be lost for another year, which may be too late to save the island's threatened seabirds.
The number of landslips caused by rabbit over-grazing on Macquarie Island are increasing and literally causing the ecosystem to fall apart. Twenty landslips occurred in September alone, one of which killed an unconfirmed number of king penguins.
"As a responsible tourism operator, we cannot stand by and watch the destruction of this iconic wilderness as a result of government inaction. It is Australia's moral - and legal - obligation to protect it," said Kerry Lorimer, spokesperson for Peregrine Adventures, Australia's largest Antarctic expedition cruise operator.
"Unless work on the eradication plan starts in winter 2007, we stand to drive the wandering and grey-headed albatross to extinction in Australia. We've provided funding for the eradication project to spur the two governments to act on this issue," said Ms Lorimer.
The only known breeding site in Australia for the grey-headed albatross is Macquarie Island's Petrel Peak. It is used by about 80 breeding pairs each year and is suffering from severe erosion and landslips caused by rabbit damage.
Ms Julie Kirkwood, Invasive Species Policy Officer for WWF-Australia said "The timing for implementing the Macquarie Island plan is critical. The injection of funds from Peregrine and WWF is a key initial step and we hope to see a quick resolution to the funding issues so that this sub-Antarctic wildlife haven is protected into the future."
To ensure the eradication programme can start as quickly as possible, the first project of the Peregrine - WWF partnership will be the purchase and installation of an Automatic Weather Station, to be delivered to the island in March 2007. A successful eradication effort will rely on a detailed understanding of the weather conditions on the island, so the helicopters used for surveying and baiting can fly both safely and do their job properly in the harsh conditions.
Rabbits and rodents are devastating the sub-Antarctic island, which provides nesting habitat to nearly 4 million seabirds, including four threatened albatross species. Since the 1980s rabbit numbers on the island have exploded from 10,000 to more than 100,000 today.
Find out more
Angela Heck, Communications Manager - Partnerships, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1268
Mobile: 0421 053 023
Email: aheck@wwf.org.au
Kerry Lorimer, Peregrine Adventures
Phone: 02 9929 2844
Mobile: 0411 550 329
