Ship to set sail and still no decision on Macquarie Island
04 Apr 2007
The future of Macquarie Island remains in doubt on the eve of the departure of the Macquarie Island resupply ship, Aurora Australis, which sails from Hobart on 5 April, 2007.
The ship will be taking down a joint Tasmanian-Commonwealth investigation team, including WWF-Australia's Program Leader for Biodiversity Andreas Glanznig, which will report on the degraded state of this World Heritage jewel.
The outright rejection by the Tasmanian Government on March 26 to contribute any funding toward the $24.6 million eradication plan has jeopardised the timing of the bait run.
"Unless 100% of funding is committed by the end of April, the bait run will 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 albatrosses, petrels, penguins and other seabirds," warned Dr Andrew Burbidge, one of Australia's island feral animal experts who review the plan for the Australian Government.
The delay to date has helped push the cost up by $8 million - from $16.5 to $24.6 million. The government is on the verge of delaying the plan by another year, which will inevitably push up the cost by many more millions. This inaction is a waste of tax payers' money.
"This feral invasion is one of the biggest threats that Macquarie Island has ever faced and the Tasmanian Government has decided to simply walk away from the long term solution. It is unbelievable that a government responsible for the island would act in this way," said Mr Glanznig.
The plan, prepared by the Tasmanian Government's own scientists highlights that it is "critical that an eradication operation is conducted as soon as possible to halt further vegetation destruction and associated soil instability, and to assist the recovery of seabird populations on Macquarie Island." Up to 24 bird species will benefit by implementing the plan.
"Blatantly ignoring the advice of their own scientists sends an important signal to the Tasmanian people, and the Australian and international community about the Tasmanian Government's lack of true commitment to secure the long term conservation of this globally important treasure," said Mr Glanznig.
"Given that they don't want to contribute one cent to the eradication plan, it is time for the Tasmanian Government to do one of two things - either rethink their position and agree to contribute their fair share, or seriously consider ceding the island to a government that will ensure its long term conservation. This will save the Tasmanian Government millions of dollars over the next two decades," added Mr Glanznig.
There is a precedent for this type of action when New South Wales ceded the land that is now the ACT to the Commonwealth in 1909.
A rabbit plague of well over 100,000 rabbits is devastating the island's vegetation and causing landslips that are destroying albatross breeding sites and crashing into penguin rookeries. The increase in rat numbers is also causing large impacts on the island's birds.
Due to government inaction, Peregrine Adventures and WWF put up $100,000 in December 2006 to kick-start the eradication program. Equipment to get the project started will be on the ship that will set sail April 5.
Find out more
Charlie Stevens, Press Officer, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1274
Mobile: 0424 649 689
Email: cstevens@wwf.org.au
Notes
The Plan for the Eradication of Rabbits and Rodents on Subantarctic Macquarie Island developed by the Tasmanian Government highlights the following:
- Localised extinction and/or severely depleted grey petrel, blue petrel, white-headed petrel, common diving petrel, Wilson's storm-petrel, cape petrel, South Georgian diving petrel, fairy prion, Antarctic prion and sooty shearwater colonies on the main island. Some of these species have been relegated to offshore vegetated rock stacks that are rabbit free, but may have a rodent presence, or survive in precariously small communities on the main island system (pg.8)
- Rabbit grazing affects all burrowing seabird colonies. It decreases the breeding success of burrowing petrels throughout the island by degrading their habitat leaving them exposed to the elements (pg.10)
- Black rats are an on-going threat to at least nine bird species currently breeding on the island
- Black rats are predators of eggs and unattended chicks of burrowing petrels
- Evidence suggests that it is the presence of rats that prevents the smaller diving petrels and storm petrels recolonising the main island system (pg.11)
- The plan can benefit up to 24 bird species, of which 12 are listed as threatened under Tasmanian or Commonwealth threatened species legislation.
- House mice present on the island are affecting vegetation and invertebrate animal numbers and there is evidence that house mice predate albatross chicks during the night on other islands.
