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Firebird supports endangered seabird project
Development and implementation of a PR action plan
The South Georgia Heritage Trust appointed Firebird to develop and implement a PR action plan around the start of the world's largest rat eradication project.
In March, the South Georgia Heritage Trust embarked on the first phase of a seven-year project to eradicate invasive rats from the entire sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. The Trust's Habitat Restoration Project, the largest operation of its kind ever, aims to completely eradicate non-native rats (Rattus norvegicus) and mice (Mus musculus) from the island, with a view to restoring South Georgia to its earlier status as one of the world's most important seabird sanctuaries.
The project brings together a number of organisations: it is being led, organised and financed by the South Georgia Heritage Trust and is being supported by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI), as well as the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Dundee.
The only effective way to eradicate invasive rodents on an island the size of South Georgia is to spread by helicopter a special pelleted rodenticide. Two Bolköw-105 helicopters equipped with spreader buckets will work from the edge of the former whaling station at Grytviken, dropping 58 tonnes of bait over the next month in a limited-area trial. The glaciers on South Georgia, which have so far isolated the rats into discrete areas, are now retreating due to climate change, and rats are on the brink of invading the few areas which are currently free of them. So time is of the essence and any delay could result in the task becoming impossibly complex and expensive.
The remote and mountainous island of South Georgia, a UK Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean, is a haven for vast numbers of seabirds and marine mammals. Millions of birds, representing 31 different species, breed on the island, including the endangered Black-browed albatross, vulnerable Grey-headed albatross and vulnerable white-chinned petrel. However, invasive brown rats and mice, inadvertently brought to the island by sealers and whalers from the late 1700's onwards, have had a devastating effect on the island's native ecosystem. In particular, huge numbers of ground-nesting birds, including endemic species such as the South Georgia Pipit and South Georgia Pintail, are eaten alive by rats each year and their eggs and chicks predated.
South Georgia Pintail