"Do fence me in!" ACAP’s latest listed species, the Pink-footed Shearwater, is to get a predator-proof fence

The Vulnerable Pink-footed Shearwater Puffinus creatopus, a Chilean endemic, is the most recently listed ACAP species, being added to the Agreement in May this year (click here).  Its conservation status is now about to improve with some fencing.

Pink-footed Shearwater, photograph by Peter Hodum

With funding from the American Bird Conservancy, the Municipality of Juan Fernández, Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge and Corporación Nacional Forestal (Chile's National Forest Corporation, CONAF) have started transferring material to Robinson Crusoe Island for the construction of a predator-proof fence in an area of the island known as Tierras Blancas.  The fence will cover about 20 ha and will be 1700 m in length.  The Tierras Blancas fence will protect several important species in the Archipiélago Juan Fernández, including a major Pink-footed Shearwater colony, a Juan Fernández Fur Seal Arctocephalus philippii colony, and a fern that was recently rediscovered in the area after it was thought to be extinct.

According to Oikonos, “this fence will start the process of ecological protection from a host of introduced predators.”

Information from the Oikonos Facebook page.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 September 2015