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title: "ACAP Breeding Site No. 36.  île Saint-Paul, with its spectacular flooded crater"
---

# ACAP Breeding Site No. 36.  île Saint-Paul, with its spectacular flooded crater

 ![](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Saint-Paul  Thierry Micol s.jpg)

 île Saint-Paul from the air.  Photograph by Thierry Micol

 [île Saint-Paul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_Saint-Paul) and the adjacent islet of La Roche Quille are located 85 km south of [île Amsterdam](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/latest-news/1429-acap-breeding-sites-no-37-ileamsterdam-only-home-of-the-amsterdam-albatross) in the southern Indian Ocean.  The uninhabited island forms part of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories (Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises - [TAAF](http://www.taaf.fr/)).  Since 2006 the whole island and its territorial waters have been classified as a National Nature Reserve.  The island was designated as part of a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2008 ([click here](http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-documents-list-annotated-ramsar-16400/main/ramsar/1-31-218%5E16400_4000_0)).  Saint-Paul has also been designated an [Important Bird Area](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sitefactsheet.php?id=6904) by BirdLife International.

 ![](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Saint Paul Island crater and La Roche Quille -  DEMAY JEREMIE s.jpg) 

 île Saint-Paul’s flooded crater with La Roche Quille behind.  Photograph by Jeremie Demay

 ![](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Southern coast of Saint Paul Island -  DEMAY JEREMIE s.jpg) 

 The southern coast of île Saint-Paul.  Photograph by Jeremie Demay

 Saint-Paul is a young volcano where the caldera has collapsed allowing the sea to overrun the crater. This small island, of only eight square kilometres, hosts two species of albatrosses, the only ACAP-listed species that breed.  The Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross *Thalassarche carteri* occurs in a small colony of less than 10 pairs on the inside of the crater while less than 50 pairs of Sooty Albatrosses *Phoebetria fusca* breed annually on the island’s coastal cliffs.

 ![](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/I/Indian_Yellow_nosed/Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross near Amsterdam Island Kirk Zufelt s.jpg)

 ![](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Sooty/Sooty near Amsterdam Kirk Zufelt s.jpg)

 Indian Yellow-nosed and Sooty Albatrosses at sea in the southern Indian Ocean

 Photographs by Mark Zufelt

 In 1997 the Black or Ship Rat *Rattus rattus* and European Rabbit *Oryctolagus cuniculus*were successfully eradicated from the island by dropping poison bait from a helicopter.  Despite the continued presence of the House Mouse *Mus musculus* on the island (which was not eradicated in 1997), recent visits have shown slow recolonisation by burrowing petrels, especially by the endemic Macgillivray’s Prion *Pachyptila [salvini] macgillivrayi.*

 **Selected References:**

 Chapuis, J.-L., Boussès, P. & Barnaud, G. 1994.  Alien mammals, impact and management in the French subantarctic islands.  [*Biological Conservation* 64: 97-104](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0006320794903530).

 Duriez, O. & Delord, K. 2012.  Manchots, petrels et albatross: oiseaux des Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (TAAF).  [*Ornithos* 19-3: 162-183.](http://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/publipdf/2012/DO19_2012.pdf)

 Duriez, O., Jornvaal, H. & Shirihai, H. 2005.  Birds and wildlife of the French sub-Antarctic islands: Crozet, Kerguelen and Amsterdam & St Paul.  [*Dutch Birding* 27: 87-115](http://www.dutchbirding.nl/journal.php?id=158).

 Micol, T. & Jouventin, P. 19  . Eradication of rats and rabbits from Saint-Paul Island, French Southern Territories.  In: Veitch, C.R. & Clout, M.N. (Eds).  [*Turning the Tide: the Eradication of Invasive Species.  Proceedings of the International Conference on Eradication of Island Invasives*](http://www.issg.org/pdf/publications/turning_the_tide.pdf).  Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK: IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.  pp. 199-205.

 Ministère de l'Écologie et du Développement Durable 2008.  [Décret No. 2006-1211 du 3 octobre 2006 portant creation de la reserve naturelle des Terres australes françaises](http://www.taaf.fr/spip/IMG/pdf/DecretReserveNaturelle.pdf).  *Journal Officiel de la République Française*.  4 octobre 2006.  4 pp.

 TAAF 2006. *Instructions sur la protection de l'environnement dans les Terres australes antarctiques françaises.*  Saint-Pierre: Terres australes et antarctiques françaises.  9 pp.

 TAAF 2010.  *[Plan de gestion 2011 - 2015 Réserve naturelle des Terres australes françaises.](http://www.taaf.fr/spip/IMG/pdf/planrnn.pdf)*  Saint Pierre, La Réunion: Terres australes et antarctiques françaises.  35 pp.

 *Fabrice Le Bouard, Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Villiers-en-Bois, Beauvoir-sur-Niort, France, 02 July 2013*