The Fiordland Islands restoration programme is run by the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

. The purpose of the programme is to eradicate pests on key islands around

Fiordland National Park Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of , and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. The par ...

, once the islands are considered predator free endangered native species will be translocated to the islands. The programme's intentions are to create a safe home for

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and invas ...

to build up population numbers before some species can be translocated to different islands or to the New Zealand mainland.

History of the programme

The New Zealand conservationist Richard Henry rescued rare birds such as kākāpō and kiwi from the

Fiordland Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lake ...

mainland. Henry translocated the birds to islands off Fiordland's coast, notably Resolution Island.

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Po ...

is the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

with ''mana whenua'' (historic rights and oversight) over Fiordland National Park.

Pest species

The main pest species on the island are

stoats The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine, Beringian ermine and ermine, is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Conc ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

kiore The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, a ...

, Norway rats, and

ship rats The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

. As deer are known to be good swimmers populations were established on all but the most outer islands in Fiordland. Deer never colonised Breaksea or Chalky Island, and were later eradicated from Anchor Island and Secretary Island in 2002 and 2006 respectively.

Key native fauna

Some key species for this project are;

kākāpō The kākāpō ( ; ; from the mi, kākāpō, , night parrot), also known as owl parrot (''Strigops habroptilus''), is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrots of the super-family Strigopoidea, endemic to New Zealand. ...

takahē The South Island takahē (''Porphyrio hochstetteri'') is a flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, which it shares with the recently e ...

tieke The saddlebacks ( mi, tīeke) are two species of New Zealand bird of the family Callaeidae. Both are glossy black with a chestnut saddle. Its taxonomic family is also known as that of the (New Zealand) "wattlebirds" and includes the two subspecie ...

, mohua, fiordland skink and

rock wren The rock wren (''Salpinctes obsoletus'') is a small songbird of the wren family native to western North America, Mexico and Central America. It is the only species in the genus ''Salpinctes''. Description Measurements: * Length: 4.9-5.9 in ...

. Kākāpō can be found on Chalky and Anchor Island as a part of the Kākāpō Recovery Programme. Kākāpō previously lived on the Fiordland mainland and past translocations occurred on Resolution Island by Richard Henry, although this was unsuccessful.

Island geography and flora

Islands involved in project

Anchor Island Anchor Island ( mi, Pukenui) is an island in Dusky Sound in Fiordland. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "large hill" for . The island is situated southwest of the much larger Resolution Island in th ...

* Bauza Island * Breaksea Island * Chalky Island * Coal Island *

Cooper Island Cooper Island is a small island, long, which lies at the north side of the entrance to Drygalski Fjord, off the southeast end of South Georgia. It was discovered by a British expedition under James Cook in 1775, and named for Lieutenant Robert ...

Great Island Great Island () is an island in Cork Harbour, at the mouth of the River Lee and close to the city of Cork, Ireland. The largest town on the island is Cobh (called Queenstown from 1849 to 1922). The island's economic and social history has his ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

* Passage Island * Resolution Island *

Secretary Island Secretary Island () is an island in southwestern New Zealand, lying entirely within Fiordland National Park. Roughly triangular in shape, it lies between Doubtful Sound / Patea in the south and Te Awa-o-Tū / Thompson Sound in the north, with ...

* Steep-to Island

References

{{Reflist Fiordland National Park Nature conservation in New Zealand Pest control campaigns Mammal pest control