Extracts from the Environmental Audit Committee session on Invasive species - Jun 11
Witnesses: Catherine Wensink, Executive Director, UK Overseas
Territories Forum, Dr Mark Belchier, Director of Fisheries and
Environment, Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich
Islands, Dr Kevin Hughes, British Antarctic Survey, and Jonathan
Hall, Head of the UK Overseas Territories, Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds. Dr David Aldridge, Senior Lecturer in
Aquatic Ecology, Fellow, St Catharine's College, Cambridge,
Rob Quest, Assistant...Request free
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Witnesses:
Catherine Wensink, Executive Director, UK Overseas Territories Forum, Dr Mark Belchier, Director of Fisheries and Environment, Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Dr Kevin Hughes, British Antarctic Survey, and Jonathan Hall, Head of the UK Overseas Territories, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Dr David Aldridge, Senior Lecturer in Aquatic
Ecology, Fellow, St Catharine's
College, Cambridge, Rob Quest, Assistant Director (Animal Health
and Welfare), City of London Corporation, Dr Tracey King,
Assistant Chief Executive, Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association,
and Wayne Grills, Chief Executive, British Association of
Landscape Industries.
Dr Belchier: Good morning,
everybody. I am Dr Mark Belchier representing the Government of
South Georgia in the South Sandwich
Islands. I am based here at
Cambridge at the British Antarctic Survey.
It is probably quite a long way to get here for the
rest of my colleagues, who are based down in Stanley in
the Falkland Islands... Jonathan Hall: Neither is there yet. Both have been identified as key threats in this horizon scanning process led by the UK Government. Ants are often referred to as “tramp ants” because they have been so effective at spreading to many islands around the world. Equipment is one of the most common methods—bringing in diggers or JCBs. Tyres are famous transporters of mosquitoes with little areas of water in them.
Here is one thing to perhaps bring this to life. In
2016, an assessment of US cargo
being brought into the US base on Ascension
found that over 50% of the
containers inspected contained live invertebrates;
there were also live geckos and dead frogs by the
time they were found. One of the key links for Ascension on risk
is from the US resupplies coming from Florida, so much more of a
similar environmental context than bringing in something from the
Falklands over to the UK... James Gray: Can I also declare an interest? This time last year I was lucky enough to be flown down to the Falklands largely by the Falklands Government, partly paid for by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Polar Regions of which I am chairman. I was then lucky enough to do the trip on the MV Pharos round South Georgia paid for by the Commissioner, as he is called, and great it was too. Incidentally, the biodiversity controls I experienced then were just superb. The zips on your anoraks were checked for seeds. It was just amazing. I want to focus if I may on South Georgia. It ran a hugely successful operation eradicating the reindeer, which numbered in the tens ofthousands if I remember rightly. Dr Belchier: Seven thousand. James Gray: Seven thousand, and then of course the rats. Both were enormously successful. I have two questions. First, to what degree could that experience be replicated elsewhere? I suspect your answer may be only to a very limited degree. Secondly, it was privately funded and therefore is there an argument that says it should have been funded by some other means? Dr Belchier: Going to your second question first, certainly the majority of the rat and mice eradication was privately funded but a lot of the infrastructure support for that project was funded through the Government and obviously the ongoing monitoring and biosecurity is paid for largely through the Government, whereas the reindeer eradication was wholly paid for by the South Georgia Government. I think different islands with rodent infestations pose different problems. One of the problems you have with aerial baiting is always going to be the risk of collateral damage, poisoning to native species, and that risk has to be managed. Similarly with the reindeer programme, that was relatively straightforward in that reindeer are much larger and they were shot. They were not poisoned. On an island like South Georgia we were very lucky at the time in that different populations of rats were separated by glaciers and therefore it could be a phased baiting programme. That luxury does not exist on many islands that are either not glaciated or where glaciers are retreating,so you would probably have to do it all within one season for it to be effective, and that clearly is going to depend on the size of the island you wish to de-rat. It was amazingly successful; about this time last year the island was declared rat-free. and at the time it was the largest island globally to be announced rat-free. Already we are seeing the consequences of that, such as the return of the South Georgia pipit in particular aroundGrytviken. where it had not been for probably 100 years. Equally some of the duck species and no doubt a lot of the smaller seabirds as well are recovering in great numbers. It was hugely successful. I think there are lessons that can be learnt from other OTs but not necessarily directly applicable. James Gray: Just one detailed matter. Fur seals are now a huge over-population, are they not, in and around the islands? Is that a counterbalance to pest eradication or could fur seals now be described as something of a pest? Dr Belchier: Fur seal numbers are probably at historical highs having been almost wiped out to about 200 individuals about 200 years ago. Then there has been a succession of removal of top predators. There was 100 years of whaling. The response from the fur seals is likely to have been to a lack of competition for Antarctic krill, so their numbers have slowly recovered over the last 30 years, and there are now probably around 5 million individuals. Whales, as I am hearing all the time from my BAS colleagues and from other research in the region, are making a comeback. Humpback whales in particular this year and some of the other fin whale species are returning in significant numbers, so there could be a rebalancing of the whole ecosystem. I think that is something we need to be aware of when these eradication programmes are undertaken.
There is probably going to be a very large increase in the
number of some of the seabirds of South Georgia and that is
likely to have consequences further down the
line, rebalancing the ecosystem
hopefully to return somewhere to where it was
pre-man's engagement on the island 200
years ago. James Gray: Briefly just talk us through how we can stop them coming back. I mentioned briefly the biosecurity I myself saw on the Pharos. What other steps can be taken? Dr Belchier: We are very fortunate in that we have a whole series of detection points around the island that are monitored regularly to look for any sign of rodent activity—gnawed sticks, for example. As I mentioned earlier onone of the most important things is that these measures are carried before vessels enter into South Georgia waters. There are very strict biosecurity regulations on tourist vessels and fishing vessels.
One of the most interesting developments, as I think was
mentioned earlier, has been this detector dog programme based on
the Falkland Islands that is now insisting as
far as possible that vessels entering into the South
Georgia maritime zone undergo a thorough rodent detector dog
inspection in Port Stanley prior to entering South Georgia
waters. These are dogs that are American trained and American
owned at this point. Detector Dogs for Conservation is, I think,
the name of the firm but we are in the process of training up our
own dog to be based in the Falkland Islands with a South Georgia
Government employee who will be in charge of that
programme...
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