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Tristan Albatross to be saved from extinction? Eradication of Gough Island’s “killer” mice is to go ahead in 2019

The United Kingdom’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) announced last week that the long-awaited attempt to eradicate introduced House Mice Mus musculus on Gough Island in the South Atlantic is set to take place in 2019 (click here).

Gough’s oversized “killer” mice have become well known for their attacks on seabird chicks on the island, leading most notably to unsustainably low breeding success for the near endemic and globally Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena and the endemic and globally Endangered Atlantic Petrel Pterodroma incerta. Both species rear their chicks in winter when alternative food sources for mice are scarce.  Other seabird species on the island, especially the burrowing petrels, are also known or thought to be impacted by mice.

A Tristan Albatross chick close to death after being eaten alive by mice, photograph by Sylvain Dromzee & Karen Bourgeois

“While we still have a funding shortfall, thanks to generous financial support from the UK Government, the [USA's] National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other sources, we are now sufficiently confident to plan the mouse eradication operation to start in 2019.” Contributions to the costs of the operation can be made via an appeal by the RSPB (click here).

Read more about the RSPB’s Gough Island Restoration Programme here.

The go-ahead announcement was also made by the United Kingdom Delegation to the 4th Meeting of ACAP's Population and Conservation Working Group held  in Wellington, New Zealand earlier this month.  The news was met with warm support from the working group (See AC10 Doc 11 Rev 1).

The decision to attempt a mouse eradication by poison bait drop was made after over a decade of concerted research on the island by UK and South African scientists, resulting in a large suite of papers and reports on the impacts of mice on Gough’s seabirds and that address questions towards their eradication raised by a feasibility study by New Zealand eradication expert, John Parkes. A selected list of these publications follows.

Click here to access the over a hundred previous articles in ACAP Latest News on Gough’s mice and their depredations on the island’s avifauna.

Selected Literature:

Angel, A. & Cooper, J. 2006. A review of the impacts of introduced rodents on the Islands of Tristan da Cunha and Gough (South Atlantic). RSPB Research Report No. 17. Sandy: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  64 pp.

Angel, A, Wanless, R.M. & Cooper, J. 2008. Review of impacts of the introduced House Mouse on islands in the Southern Ocean: are mice equivalent to rats? Biological Invasions 11: 1743-1754.

Anon. 2016. Gough Island Restoration Project. Sandy: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 22 pp.

Cooper, J., Cuthbert, R.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2013. An overlooked biosecurity concern? Back-loading at islands supporting introduced rodents. Aliens: The Invasive Species Bulletin 33: 28-31.

Cuthbert, R,[J.] & Hilton, G. 2004.  Introduced house mice Mus musculus: a significant predator of threatened and endemic birds on Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean?  Biological Conservation 117: 483-489.

Cuthbert, R.J., Broome, K., Bradley, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2014. Evaluating the effectiveness of aerial baiting operations for rodent eradications on cliffs on Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha. Conservation Evidence 11: 25-28.

Cuthbert, R.J., Cooper, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2013. Population trends and breeding success of albatrosses and giant petrels at Gough Island in the face of at-sea and on-land threats. Antarctic Science 26: 163-171.

Cuthbert, R.J., Louw, H., Lurling, J. & Parker, G.  2013. Low burrow occupancy and breeding success of burrowing petrels at Gough Island: a consequence of mouse predation.  Bird Conservation International  23: 113-124.

Cuthbert, R.J., Louw, H., Parker, G., Rexer-Huber, K. & Visser, P. 2013. Observations of mice predation on dark-mantled sooty albatross and Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross chicks at Gough Island. Antarctic Science 25: 763-766.

Cuthbert, R.J., Parker, G., Louw, H., Rexer-Huber, K., Parker, G. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Preparations for the eradication of mice from Gough Island: results of bait acceptance trials above ground and around cave systems. In: Veitch, C.R.,Clout, M.N. & Towns, D.R. (Eds). Island Invasives: Eradication and Management. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. pp. 47-50.

Cuthbert, R.J., Visser, P., Louw, H. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Palatability and efficacy of rodent baits for eradicating house mice (Mus musculus) from Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha. Wildlife Research 38: 196-203.

Cuthbert, R.J., Wanless, R.M., Angel, A., Burlé, M.-H., Hilton, G.M., Louw, H., Visser, P., Wilson, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2016. Drivers of predatory behaviour and extreme body size in House Mice Mus musculus on Gough Island. Journal of Mammalogy 97: 533-544.

Davies, D., Dilley, B.J., Bond, A.L., Cuthbert, R.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2015. Trends and tactics of mouse predation on Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena chicks at Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Avian Conservation and Ecology 10(1): 5. doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00738-100105.

Dilley, B.J., Davies, D., Bond, A.L. & Ryan, P.G. 2015. Effects of mouse predation on burrowing petrel chicks at Gough Island. Antarctic Science 27: 543-553.

Parkes, J. 2008. A Feasibility Study for the Eradication of House Mice from Gough Island. RSPB Research Report No. 34. Sandy: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 52 pp.

Rexer‐Huber, K. & Parker, G. 2011. Captive Husbandry of the Gough Island Bunting and Moorhen. RSPB Research Report No. 42.  Sandy: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  51 pp.

Ryan, P.G. & Cuthbert, R.J. 2008. The biology and conservation status of Gough Bunting Rowettia goughensisBulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.  128: 242-253.

Tucker, G.M. & Underwood, E. 2016. Gough Island: an Assessment of its Status and Case for inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger.  London: Institute for European Environmental Policy.40 pp.

Wanless, R.M., Angel, A., Cuthbert, R.J., Hilton, G.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2007. Can predation by invasive mice drive seabird extinctions? Biology Letters 3: 241-244.

Wanless, R.M., Angel, A., Hilton, G.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2005. Cultural evolution in the introduced house mouse: evidence for the cultural transmission of a unique predatory behaviour on Gough Island. Paper delivered at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology Conference, Brasília, Brazil, 15-19 July 2005.

Wanless, R.M., Fisher, P., Cooper, J., Parkes. J. & Ryan, P.G. 2008. Bait acceptance by house mice: an island field trial. Wildlife Research 35: 806-811.

Wanless, R.M., Ryan, P.G., Altwegg, R., Angel, A., Cooper, J., Cuthbert, R. & Hilton, G.M. 2009. From both sides: dire demographic consequences of carnivorous mice and longlining for the critically endangered Tristan albatrosses on Gough Island. Biological Conservation 142: 1710-1718.

Wanless, R.M., Cooper, J., Slabber, M.J., & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Risk assessment of birds foraging terrestrially at Marion and Gough Islands to primary and secondary poisoning. Wildlife Research 37: 524-530.

Wanless, R.M., Ratcliffe, N., Angel, A., Bowie, B.C., Cita, K., Hilton, G.M., Kritzinger, P., Ryan, P.G. & Slabber, M. 2012. Predation of Atlantic petrel chicks by house mice on Gough Island. Animal Conservation 15: 472-479.

With thanks to John Kelly and Clare Stringer for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 September 2017, updated 02 October 2917

UPDATED. Lord Howe rodent eradication set to go ahead in winter next year

UPDATE:

The Lord Howe Island Board media release may be read here.

“After a comprehensive and rigorous environmental assessment process, and a Human Health Risk Assessment led by the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, the Board has made the decision to proceed”, Chair of the Lord Howe Island Board, Sonja Stewart said. 

Benefits of the project include:

  • Increase in numbers and breeding success for a range of seabirds such as Kermadec petrel, Masked booby and White-bellied storm petrel
  • Recovery of endemic ground lizards and invertebrates such as land snails
  • Increased seeds and seedlings for numerous plant species including the Critically Endangered Little Mountain Palm
  • Reintroduction of the world’s rarest insect, the Lord Howe Island Phasmid
  • Long term benefits to tourism and the Island’s economy through improved visitor experience

The project will distribute rodenticide (brodifacoum) in cereal based pellets via helicopter in the uninhabited parts of the island and via hand broadcast and bait stations in the settlement area in winter 2018 (June or July).

The [AUS] $9.5M Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project is jointly funded by the NSW Environmental Trust and the Australian Government National Landcare Program and will be implemented through partnerships with the Lord Howe Island Board, the Office of Environment and Heritage and Taronga Conservation Society Australia."

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After a number of years of planning and deliberations the eradication of Black Rats Rattus rattus by poison bait drop on Australia’s Lord Howe Island is slated to go ahead next year.  In 2012 Australian governmental funds were allocated to eradicate the island's rodents.

The Lord Howe Island Board earlier this month voted six to one in favour of aerially baiting the UNESCO World Heritage site - which lies 700 km off Australia’s east coast - with an estimated 42 tonnes of cereal pellets containing the second generation coagulant brodifacoum. Lord Howe supports breeding populations of Flesh-footed Ardenna carnepeis, Wedge-tailed A. pacifica and Little Puffinus assimilis Shearwaters, as well as of two species of gadfly petrels, Providence Pterodroma solandii and Black-winged Petrel P. nigripennis on the main island. All should benefit from the removal of rats.

Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Barry Baker

Read more here.

Previously various reports and enabling permits have been issued, clearing the way for the board’s decision (click here).

Follow the Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project on Facebook.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 September 2017, updated 03 October 2017

Pacific Seabird Group to meet in Mexico next year with a special session on seabird restoration: registration now open

Registration, abstract submission, and travel award applications for the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) are now open.

The Meeting, the PSG’s 45th, will be held at the at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in La Paz, Mexico over 21-24 February 2018. The locality is at the entrance to the Gulf of California.

Laysan Albatross pair on Mexico's Guadalupe Island, photograph by Ross Wanless

There will be oral and poster sessions (themes: Behaviour, Breeding Biology, Climate Change, Conservation Biology, Contaminants & Marine Debris, Fisheries, Foraging Ecology, Genetics, Management,Policy, and/or Planning, Non-breeding Biology, Physiology, Population Biology, Tools & Techniques, and Tracking & Distribution) along with plenary speakers as is usual at PSG annual meetings. Excursions into the gulf will view whales and whale sharks.

A Special Paper Session is planned on seabird restoration to be convened by Yuliana Bedoya.  The session description follows:

“Seabird populations around the world have declined due to different threats such as invasive alien species, contaminants, oil spills, bycatch, fisheries, climate change, and ocean acidification. Conventional restoration actions –the eradication of invasive mammals, habitat restoration- alone are inadequate to effectively restore seabird colonies that were extirpated or decimated. Increasingly, restoration projects in the Pacific Ocean are supplemented with active seabird restoration to ensure the recolonization and recovery of breeding colonies. This special paper session will present a wide variety of ambitious projects that currently employ novel techniques to restore seabird populations (social attraction techniques, translocation). Papers will include case studies from the Channel Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Mexican Pacific islands, and others. Talks will present different methods, recent success histories, and the adaptive management to succeed. The seabird restoration projects can be used as models for future projects. The session will conclude with a roundtable group discussion.”

Read more on PSG2018.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 September 2017

Bird-scaring lines reduce seabird bycatch rates by Uruguayan pelagic longliners

Andrés Domingo (Laboratorio de Recursos Pelágicos, Dirección Nacional de Recursos Acuáticos, Montevideo, Uruguay) and colleagues have published open access in the journal PLoS One on using bird-scaring lines on pelagic longline vessels to reduce seabird mortalities in the south-west Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Industrial longline fisheries cause the death of large numbers of seabirds annually. Various mitigation measures have been proposed, including the use of tori lines. In this study the efficiency of a single tori line to reduce seabird bycatch was tested on pelagic longline vessels (25-37 m length). Thirteen fishing trips were carried out in the area and season of the highest bycatch rates recorded in the southwest Atlantic (2009–2011). We deployed two treatments in random order: sets with a tori line and without a tori line (control treatment). The use of a tori line significantly reduced seabird bycatch rates. Forty three and seven birds were captured in the control (0.85 birds/1,000 hooks, n = 49 sets) and in the tori line treatment (0.13 birds/1,000 hooks, n = 51 sets), respectively. In 47% of the latter sets the tori line broke either because of entanglement with the longline gear or by tension. This diminished the tori line effectiveness; five of the seven captures during sets where a tori line was deployed were following ruptures. Nine additional trips were conducted with a tori line that was modified to reduce entanglements (2012–2016). Seven entanglements were recorded in 73 longline sets. The chance of a rupture on these trips was 4% (95% c.l. = 1–18%) of that during 2009–2011. This work shows that the use of a tori line reduces seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries and is a practice suitable for medium size vessels (~25-40 m length). Because the study area has historically very high bycatch rates at global level, this tori line design is potentially useful to reduce seabird bycatch in many medium size pelagic longline vessel fishing in the southern hemisphere.”

 

A bird-scaring line keeps seabirds away off Uruguay, photograph by Domingo Jimenez, courtesy of Andrés Domingo

With thanks to Andrés Domingo.

Reference:

Domingo, A., Jiménez, S., Abreu, M., Forselledo, R. & Yates, O. 2017. Effectiveness of tori line use to reduce seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fishing. PLoS One 12(9): doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184465.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 September 2017

Ridding an island of rats and mice in the South Atlantic

Tony Martin (Centre for Remote Environments, University of Dundee, UK) and Mike Richardson have published open access in the conservation journal Oryx on the eradication attempt made to remove introduced rodents on the island of South Georgia/Islas Georgias del Sur*.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Subantarctic island of South Georgia lost most of its birds to predation by rodents introduced by people over 2 centuries. In 2011 a UK charity began to clear brown rats Rattus norvegicus and house mice Mus musculus from the 170 km long, 3,500 km island using helicopters to spread bait containing Brodifacoum as the active ingredient. South Georgia’s larger glaciers were barriers to rodent movement, resulting in numerous independent sub-island populations. The eradication could therefore be spread over multiple seasons, giving time to evaluate results before recommencing, and also reducing the impact of non-target mortality across the island as a whole. Eradication success was achieved in the 170 km Phase 1 trial operation. Work in 2013 (Phase 2) and early 2015 (Phase 3) covered the remaining 128 km occupied by rodents. By July 2017, 28 months after baiting was concluded, there was no sign of surviving rodents, other than one apparently newly introduced by ship in October 2014. A survey using detection dogs and passive devices will search the Phase 2 and Phase 3 land for rodents in early 2018. Seven (of 30) species of breeding birds suffered losses from poisoning, but all populations appear to have recovered within 5 years. The endemic South Georgia pipit Anthus antarcticus was the first bird to breed in newly rat-free areas, but there were also signs that cavity-nesting seabirds were exploring scree habitat denied them for generations. Enhanced biosecurity measures on South Georgia are needed urgently to prevent rodents being reintroduced.

 

A helicopter flies over the island of South Georgia/Islas Georgias del Sur* spreading poison bait

Reference:

Martin, A.R. & Richardson, M.G. 2017. Rodent eradication scaled up: clearing rats and mice from South Georgia. Oryx doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700028.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 September 2017

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP is a multilateral agreement which seeks to conserve listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters by coordinating international activity to mitigate known threats to their populations.

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