Huge pest eradication project to be launched on Macquarie Island

The joint project by the Australian and Tasmanian Government is aimed at eradicating the large numbers of rabbits and rodents destroying the natural environment on the remote island 1500 kilometres south-east of Tasmania.

The Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage, Brian Wightman, said that the team of about 28 Parks and Wildlife Service staff, contractors and four helicopters is preparing for an April departure to resume the aerial baiting program on the island.

"Baiting began last winter but was unsuccessful due to extremely windy and cloudy conditions. Some improvements to the baiting operation are planned as a result of the limited baiting that was undertaken last year," Mr Wightman said.

Non target species
"One of the key goals is to arrive on the island earlier in the year in order to expand the window of flying weather. The size of the baiting team has been increased and a focus of the overall team will be to reduce impacts on non-target species. While impacts on non-target species are regrettable, it is not feasible in this type of operation to avoid non-target species impacts entirely.

"Short term impacts are expected to be far outweighed by benefits to many species following removal of invasive species and the resultant recovery of natural processes."

Once aerial baiting is complete, highly trained hunting dogs will scour the island to locate any surviving rabbits. Field work to complete rabbit eradication is expected to take up to five years.