The Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Rt Hon John Key has made a speech that makes a commitment for a predator-free New Zealand by 2050 (click here).

Speaking at the Zealandia wildlife sanctuary in Wellington this Monday, the Prime Minister announced “we have adopted the goal of a Predator Free New Zealand.  By 2050 every single part of New Zealand will be completely free of rats, stoats and possums.  This is the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world, but we believe if we all work together as a country we can achieve it.”  He added “the Crown will initially invest [New Zealand Dollar] $28 million over four years to establish a new joint venture company called Predator Free New Zealand Ltd to drive the programme, alongside the private sector.” 

The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Conservation Minister Maggie Barry and other ministers, went on to announce that the Predator Free New Zealand project will see all introduced [mammalian] predators eradicated from all offshore island nature reserves by 2025.  With New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Campbell Island long free of cats and rats, and the bait drop to eradicate mice on Antipodes Island successfully completed this month, attention will presumably now turn to removing the feral cats Felis catus and pigs Sus scrofa and introduced House Mice Mus musculus on Auckland Island, thus helping its populations of Near Threatened and ACAP-listed White-capped Albatrosses Thalassarche steadi and other seabirds.  This suggests that all of New Zealand’s southern island reserves will be introduced-predator free within a decade from now.

A feral pig on Auckland Island: to be gone by 2025?  Photograph by Pete McClelland

At risk to pigs: White-capped Albatrosses breeding at South West Cape, Auckland Island, photograph by Barry Baker

Auckland Island falls within the Auckland Islands National Nature Reserve and is part of New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands World Heritage Site inscribed in 1998.

Read more about Predator Free New Zealand Ltd here.

Read press coverage on the Prime Minister’s announcement.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/25/no-more-rats-new-zealand-to-exterminate-all-introduced-predators

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 July 2016

Despite a winter campaign with intermittent poor weather the Million Dollar Mouse project successfully completed the second aerial drop of poison bait on New Zealand’s Antipodes Island on 12 July – just in time before a major storm hit the island two days later.  The field team is now focusing on species monitoring and packing up the infrastructure, ready for its departure to the mainland this month.

Lou Sanson, Director-General of the New Zealand Department of Conservation, stated recently in his regular blog: “With three helicopters, 13 staff, 65 tonnes of brodifacoum, 30 tonnes of fuel and two ships, this is one of the most complex jobs we have taken on recently, on one of New Zealand’s most isolated islands.”  After a wait of two years monitoring will be undertaken to see if the campaign was successful and the Antipodes are mouse free.

Antipodes Island, photograph by Erica Sommer

Antipodean Albatrosses on the Antipodes, photograph by Erica Sommer

Read past news on the Million Dollar Mouse project here.

To read of progress with plans to eradicate House Mice on Gough Island in the South Atlantic click here and here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 July 2016

Thomas Clay (British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK) and colleagues have published online in Scientific Reports on the at-sea distribution of non-breeding Grey-headed Albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Many animals partition resources to avoid competition, and in colonially-breeding species this often leads to divergent space or habitat use.  During the non-breeding season, foraging constraints are relaxed, yet the patterns and drivers of segregation both between and within populations are poorly understood.  We modelled habitat preference to examine how extrinsic (habitat availability and intra-specific competition) and intrinsic factors (population, sex and breeding outcome) influence the distributions of non-breeding grey-headed albatrossesThalassarche chrysostoma tracked from two major populations, South Georgia (Atlantic Ocean) and the Prince Edward Islands (Indian Ocean).  Spatial segregation was greater than expected, reflecting distinct seasonal differences in habitat selection and accessibility, and avoidance of intra-specific competition with local breeders.  Previously failed birds segregated spatially from successful birds during summer, when they used less productive waters, suggesting a link between breeding outcome and subsequent habitat selection.  In contrast, we found weak evidence of sexual segregation, which did not reflect a difference in habitat use.  Our results indicate that the large-scale spatial structuring of albatross distributions results from interactions between extrinsic and intrinsic factors, with important implications for population dynamics.  As habitat preferences differed substantially between colonies, populations should be considered independently when identifying critical areas for protection.”

Grey-headed Albatross, photograph by Richard Phillips

Reference:

Clay, T.A., Manica, A., Ryan, P.G., Silk, J.R.D., Croxall, J.P., Ireland, L. & Phillips, R.A. 2016.  Proximate drivers of spatial segregation in non-breeding albatrosses.  Scientific Reports 6: 29932 . DOI: 10.1038/srep29932.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 July 2016

Wildlife Rangers and ornithological field workers Marcus Salton and Kim Kliska on Australia’s Macquarie Island report that Near Threatened and ACAP-listed Grey Petrels Procellaria cinerea are continuing to do well after the eradication of rabbits and rodents by the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project (MIPEP) in 2011.

“The hunt for grey petrels has continued since May.  It has been a team effort searching areas used by grey petrels.  The aim is to estimate the number of grey petrel breeding pairs on Macquarie Island.  To do this we have been carefully scouring patches of thick tussock looking and sniffing for signs of grey petrels.  When we find something promising we take a closer look, either sticking our head right into the burrow or using a go-pro on a selfie-stick that is linked to a screen/tablet.

To date the team has recorded 94 breeding pairs: not quite a record, but we are getting close.  So far our number of breeding pairs is greater than all the totals recorded prior to the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project (MIPEP).  This suggests the breeding population has increased since MIPEP – great news!  Now that there are no more rabbits on the island the vegetation is growing and providing much more stable habitat for grey petrels and other burrowing seabirds.  There are still more than 10 out of 35 areas to search for grey petrels.  Fingers crossed we are able to find more breeding pairs than were recorded in 2011 (112 breeding pairs), because this would mean the population is continuing to grow.” (click here).

Grey Petrel chick on Macquarie Island

Read earlier ACAP Latest News reports on Macca’s recovering Grey Petrels here.

Reference:

Schultz, M., Robinson, S. & Gales, R.[P.] 2006.  Breeding of the Grey Petrel (Procellaria cinerea) on Macquarie Island: population size and nesting habitat.  Emu 105: 323-329.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 July 2016