Falklands Conservation

NEWS DIGEST 20

September 2001

Warden at Volunteer Point

Volunteer Point, on East Falkland, home to over 350 king penguins, will have a warden in time for the 2001 breeding season. Funding from Rotterdam Zoo will be used to benefit the most important king penguin colony in the Islands.

King Penguin (Photo: R. White)

Volunteer Point is one of the most popular visitors' attractions in the Falklands. The warden will provide information on site to tourists and operators, guiding them around areas of interest and ensuring that there is no disturbance to the breeding birds. Demographic data on the birds will also be collected. Information boards will be erected and the rookery will be fenced off to prevent visitors approaching the birds too closely.

Falklands Conservation Attend Antarctic Tourism Meeting

Debbie Summers, author Falklands Conservation publications A Visitors' Guide to the Falkland Islands, recently attended the 12th meeting of the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators in Washington DC, USA.

The Association was formed in 1991 by seven tour operators active in Antarctica to act as a single organisation dedicated to advocate, promote and practice environmentally responsible private-sector travel to Antarctica. Currently there are 40 member organisations representing 10 countries. During this meeting IAATO decided to adopt a wider membership . This change is an indication that adventure based, large ship tourism in this region is going to continue to increase and will almost certainly have a knock on effect on the future of Falklands cruise tourism. Issues covered at the conference included the introduction of whale, seal and seabird watching guidelines.

Falklands Conservation is not a member of IAATO but has been able to benefit from their expertise. At the Conference Debbie presented an outline of the current state of cruise tourism in the Falkland Islands including promotion of our Guide, due for publication this November.

Rat Eradication Team Arrives from New Zealand

On 25 August a team of experts from New Zealand arrived to start the Falklands Conservation rat eradication programme on several islands around the Falklands.

Rats are a disaster for many ground-nesting birds for which the Islands are renowned. In particular danger are smaller species such as the endemic Cobb's Wren, found nowhere else in the world, burrowing petrels and tussacbirds. A detailed assessment was undertaken in March to ensure minimum incidental deaths during the course of implementing the programme. It is expected that the populations of many small Falkland birds will greatly increase as a result of eradicating rats.

This is the first time an attempt has been made to completely clear islands of rats in the Falklands. Two methods are being used: bait station placement and hand-broadcasting of bait. The six-week programme for the team will take them to both East and West Falkland. Top and Bottom Islands in Port William, close to Stanley, will be tackled first, to be followed by Outer and Double Islands (Falklands Conservation Nature Reserves).

Don't Buy Chilean Sea Bass

Coast to coast across the USA Chilean Sea Bass can be found on restaurant menus. But the Animal Welfare Institute reports that when eateries offer such fish they actually serve Patagonian toothfish, a species being rapidly depleted in the Southern Ocean.

This long-lived fish can survive up to 80 years old but has a difficult time recovering from over exploitation with its slow reproductive rate. This is compounded when unregulated, unethical pirate fishers take toothfish at unsustainable levels.

If pirate fishing continues at its current rate, scientists estimate that the Patagonian toothfish could be commercially extinct in less than three years.

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