Department of Conservation Auckland Island eradication project may be largest in world

Sunday, 17 December 2017

The Department of Conservation is undertaking a feasibility study for what could be the biggest multi-species pest eradication project in the world.

The Auckland Islands eradication project would see cats, mice and pigs eradicated from the 46,000-hectare island in order to make it pest free.

The islands lie 465 km south-south-east of Bluff and are the biggest group in the sub-Antarctic islands.

Project manager Stephen Horn said the programme was ambitious.

 DOC and its treaty partner in Southland, Ngāi Tahu, were keen to restore the biodiversity values of the Auckland Islands because it was home to a number of endemic species.

New Zealand was the seabird capital of the world and the sub-Antarctic islands were their breeding grounds, Horn said.

The place was void of much breeding activity because of the predation of the pigs, cats and mice.

'There's no burrowing seabirds on the island because of the predation.'

In September, DOC held a workshop with several scientists and pest control experts to gather ideas on how they would approach the project.

The idea was to take lessons from several different projects and incorporate them into the design of this project.

The intention was to complete the project proposal by the middle of 2018 and have a response by the end of July, Horn said.

At this stage, they would look at getting rid of the pigs first before the mice or cats.

While the Auckland Island pigs were being used for medical research due to their disease-free status, the project would work with medical scientists and rare breeds groups to preserve the species for the future.

Eradication was the only way to address the predation issues on the island because the investment required to control would end up costing the same as an eradication project in a short amount of time, he said.

The island terrain presented several challenges as well as weather, which would dictate how the team would work.

Department of Conservation Murihiku District operations manager Tony Preston said the project would be one of the largest eradications of its type in the world if DOC is able to attempt it.

'If we're successful in eradicating pests from Auckland Islands, the New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands will be pest free.'

It would be an ambitious project that would take several years and require a lot of planning and resources, Preston said.