Saving Marion Island's Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion Project aims to restore the ecological integrity of sub-Antarctic Marion Island & protect its globally significant biodiversity by removing invasive House Mice. By successfully eradicating the mice, the project will catalyse a cascade of ecological recovery, allowing seabird & invertebrate populations to rebound, native vegetation to regenerate & the island's natural balance to be restored.
Since their accidental introduction to Marion Island in the early 1800s, invasive House Mice numbers have grown almost exponentially, causing severe ecological damage. Initially feeding on & impacting plants & invertebrates, the mice later began attacking seabird chicks & adults. It is anticipated that 19 of the 29 bird species that breed on Marion Island, including all four albatross species, may become locally extinct (some within as little as three decades) if the mice are not eradicated.
The operation will entail aerial distribution of specially-formulated rodenticide bait from GPS-guided helicopters using calibrated bait-spreading buckets, ensuring precise & uniform bait coverage across the island. Every aspect of the operation, from bait formulation & delivery, to safety protocols, environmental safeguards & post-operational verification, is informed by decades of scientific research & the collective experience of more than 1,200 successful island pest eradications worldwide.
This once-off intervention will solve a conservation problem, rather than mitigating or containing it, yielding major conservation benefits in perpetuity. By removing mice, it will initiate a cascade of ecological recovery, allowing seabird & invertebrate populations to rebound, native vegetation to regenerate & the island's natural balance to be restored. It will prevent the local extinction of 19 bird species, including several IUCN-listed as Near-Threatened, Vulnerable, or Endangered.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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