Archived News

Peter Ryan (University of Cape Town, South Africa) and Rob Ronconi (Dalhousie University, Canada) were successfully landed on uninhabited Inaccessible Island in the South Atlantic from South Africa's Antarctic supply ship, the S.A. Agulhas during the early morning of 5 October 2009.  The transfer was made by Kamov helicopter of Titan Helicopters in misty but calm conditions from close to the island's impressive coastal cliffs.

The Agulhas had sailed from Gough Island the previous day, on completion of the annual relief of South Africa's weather station on that island.  Gough and Inaccessible form part of the UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. Together the two island nature reserves form a single World Heritage Site, as well as being individual Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance.

During its projected seven-week stay in the research hut at Blenden Hall on Inaccessible, the research team will conduct the third-ever census of the numbers of Spectacled Petrels Procellaria conspicillata, an ACAP-listed species endemic to the island.  In addition, satellite tags will be employed on Spectacled Petrels, Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria fusca (also an ACAP-listed species) and Great Shearwaters Puffinus gravis.

The party will also map the distribution of alien plants on the island, following previous surveys in 1989 and 1999, and will continue with the eradication of New Zealand Flax Phormium tenax, which has been slowly invading the island's coastal cliffs. 

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 October 2009