PEST-FREE WAIHEKE PLAN FOR POPULAR TOURIST HOT SPOT
Eliminating rats and stoats would make island world’s largest urban safe haven
Waiheke Island is set to become the world’s largest predator-free urban island under a bold $11 million plan to rid the Hauraki Gulf Island of rats and stoats.
Millions of passengers visit the Auckland tourist destination each year and the head of Fullers ferry company says it will be extremely difficult to introduce biosecurity measures similar to those imposed on other pest-free islands which involve checking visitors’ gear, ensuring food is in sealed bags and cleaning footwear.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage will today announce plans to make the island, which is already free of possums, free of other pests by 2025.
This would enable North Island kaka, kakariki, kereru , tuı, korimako or bellbird, piwakawaka or fantail, tu turiwhatu or New Zealand dotterel, oi or grey-faced petrel and korora or little blue penguin to breed safely and increase in number on Waiheke, she said.
The plan is not without its challenges, including how to impose biosecurity checks on 2 million visitors — returning residents as well as tourists — who travel to and from the island by ferry each year, plus those from thousands of recreational boats.
Waiheke Island, which covers 9200ha with a permanent population of about 9000 residents, is a jewel in the Hauraki Gulf and named one of the world’s best regions in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2016.
“Successful eradication of stoats and rats from Waiheke would make it the world’s largest and most populated island predator eradication project,” Sage said.
The first stage is focused on removing stoats by traps, followed by a trial on rats to prove methods work before they are scaled up.
One environmentalist, who did not want to be named, questioned whether trapping could eradicate stoats and rats over such a large area. It would be better to trap predators in the urban west of the island and carry out an aerial poison drop in the rural east.
Sage said traps had been used to eradicate stoats on islands the size
of Waiheke in Fiordland. Rat eradication had not occurred in urban centres like Waiheke, but a similar project was planned in Scotland’s Orkney Islands on a bigger island but nowhere near a major city like Auckland, she said.
The project, Te Korowai o Waiheke: Towards Predator Free Waiheke, will be launched at Piritahi Marae on Waiheke today.
Auckland Council, Predator Free 2050 and Foundation North are providing the bulk of the $10.9m funding for the project. Other funding, current services and inkind support is coming from community groups, existing Department of Conservation and Auckland Council programmes and Waiheke landowners.
Sage reassured residents the project wouldn’t deprive them of pets such as dogs and cats, which can kill native wildlife.
“It encourages residents to be responsible pet owners,” she said.
Visitors to the island will also not notice any changes until the project reaches a point where the predator-free status needs to be protected.
“In terms of the ferry, the team will work with the council and operators when it gets to a point that measures are needed,” Sage said.
Fullers chief executive Mike Horne said the ferry company is keen to be part of the predator-free solution, but it presents challenges that need to be worked out. Fullers already undertakes full biosecurity measures on trips to Tiritiri Matangi and Rangitoto Islands that involves checking visitors’ gear for pests, ensuring food is in sealed plastic bags and cleaning footwear and clothing to remove soil and seeds.
Imposing those measures on Waiheke would be extremely difficult, he said.
Horne said there were many ways to reach the island and the hard part would be enforcing the measures with recreational boaties.
Waiheke landowner Sir Rob Fenwick has been doing pest control on his own land for many years.
“Waiheke is already a jewel in the Auckland region’s crown and it will become an even greater taonga once it is the world’s first populated, urban island to be predator-free.”
Mayor Phil Goff said Auckland Council was committed to restoring native bush and protecting native birds. “We have made fantastic progress in replanting our gulf islands with native trees and growing our endangered bird numbers such as takahe¯ , kiwi and ko¯ kako. Our ambition is to make our first urban island, Waiheke, predatorfree and restore the bird life that once populated the island.”
Predator Free 2050 chief executive Ed Chignell said, “This will add extra magic to the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park and marks a significant step in the journey to a predator-free New Zealand.”