Last predator to leave island given its notice

The last predator left on Motuara Island, in the Marlborough Sounds, has been given its eviction notice.

Wasps, the most abundant and damaging pest in New Zealand, will be given the boot from Motuara Island, near Ship Cove in the outer Queen Charlotte Sound, with ‘Wasp Wipeout’ almost ready to roll out operations in the Marlborough Sounds.

Department of Conservation senior biodiversity ranger Phil Clerke said ‘‘wasp numbers are certainly on the increase’’, but were not quite at bait-ready levels yet.

‘‘Wasps are a problem throughout the Sounds,’’ Clerke said.

‘‘Some sites, when wasps are bad there, you literally can’t eat your lunch on the foreshore. You can barely find a place to sit on the grass, in a bad year, they’re really that terrible.’’

The Sounds operation would focus mostly on areas of human interest; campsites, picnic areas, and Queen track.

As well as various camping and picnic areas, the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve would get the wipeout treatment, as well as the predator-free Motuara Island.

Motuara had been a reserve since 1920, and was mammalian predator-free since the 1990s.

‘‘It’s actually used as a nursery for rohi kiwi from the West Coast, so there’s kiwi on the island, there’s quite a few South Island robins, yellow-crowned parakeets and saddlebacks ... quite a range of threatened species and some of the more common birds, but all at much higher concentrations than on the mainland.’’

Clerke said it would be interesting to see what effect the removal of wasps would have on the native inhabitants of the island, since they were the last remaining pest animal on the island.

‘‘I would say the biggest thing will be ... the massive increase in food.’’ Charlotte’s walking