Français 
English 
Español Worldwide, introduced rodents have played havoc in seabird colonies, including of procellariiforms. The Tristan da Cunha group, a United Kingdom Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, has not escaped this rodent plague.
The Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena, an ACAP-listed species, is in the process of having its IUCN (World Conservation Union) category of threat increased from Endangered to Critically Endangered (www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html). This has been due to the ongoing predation of chicks by introduced House Mice Mus musculus on Gough Island, the species’ main breeding site in the group. A relict population (less than five pairs) breeds on (rodent-free) Inaccessible Island, but the population on the main island of Tristan is long extinct.
With funding from the UK Government’s Overseas Territories Conservation Programme (www.ukotcf.org/OTEP/index.htm) and with the support of the Tristan Government’s Agriculture & Natural Resources Department (http://www.tristandc.com/wildlife.php), the feasibility of eradicating rodents within the territory has been assessed by a team led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK) and the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Four reports from this ongoing project are now available on the web.
Go to http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/projects/tristandacunha/index.asp to find news of the Tristan da Cunha Programme and then click on “Tristan Publications” for PDFs of the reports.
John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer
Posted 23 March 2008