By Bob Zuur
WWF-New Zealand Marine Advocate
---
Bob Zuur is a marine biologist who is spending a month
exploring Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Islands
to raise awareness of the area and its importance. His current work with WWF
focuses on fisheries, offshore oil exploration and seabed mining, and on
increasing protected areas in our marine environment. He will be
documenting his travels here on
3news.co.nz.
Our
Far South Bob Zuur RSS Feed
---
Macquarie Island was discovered in 1810 and within a decade, all its 200,000 fur seals had been slaughtered for their skins. With the seals gone, the following decade saw three-quarters of the island's elephant seals clubbed and rendered down to oil for lighting and lubrication. And then they started on the penguins...
With these resources gone, there was little interest in the islands. Yet the rabbits, cats, rats, mice and wekas that had been left behind continued to multiply, ravaging the island's wildlife and vegetation.
A New Zealander, Joseph Hatch, was instrumental in the exploitation of the penguins. So it is perhaps fitting that New Zealanders have played important roles in removing the remaining pests (rabbits, rats and mice) from the island.
Rangers from the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service explained to us how pests on the narrow, 34km long island were cleared using calicivirus and then poisoning in the winter of 2011. Hunters have since walked over 20,000km over rugged country in difficult conditions to shoot any remaining rabbits. Now, just a few months later, vegetation is starting to recover. I was proud to see that WWF Australia had contributed financially to this project.
Seabirds represent the essence of the Southern Ocean. A black-browed albatross sweeps between the swells and vanishes into the mist as we depart Macquarie Island. These birds need to be protected on land as well as at sea.