Breaksea Island is a rugged island in the southwest of
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 coun ...
, and is part of
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 park ...
. Its highest point is
asl and it lies about from the mainland in the entrance to
Te Puaitaha / Breaksea Sound
Te Puaitaha / Breaksea Sound is a small fiord on the southwestern coast of South Island, New Zealand in the Tasman Sea. Breaksea Island in Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Isla ...
, north of the much larger
Resolution Island. It is covered in
temperate rainforest
Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain.
Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American ...
and was the site of one of the first successful campaigns to eradicate
rats from a sizeable island.
Rat eradication
The pioneering eradication of
brown rat
The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...
s, using
brodifacoum
Brodifacoum is a highly lethal 4-hydroxycoumarin vitamin K antagonist anticoagulant poison. In recent years, it has become one of the world's most widely used pesticides. It is typically used as a rodenticide, but is also used to control larger ...
in poison baits, was carried out by the
New Zealand Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage.
An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Au ...
(DOC) in May and June 1988 following the success of a pilot campaign on the adjacent, and much smaller (), Hāwea Island in 1986. At the time, Breaksea was six times the size of the previous largest island on which rat eradication had been successful. Since then, DOC has overseen the eradication of a suite of introduced animals from several other islands, the largest being
Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku at .
[Wilson (2004), pp.282-283.]
Fauna
Fiordland crested penguins breed on Breaksea. Since rat eradication various threatened species of New Zealand's native fauna have been introduced, or reintroduced, there. These include the
tieke (saddleback),
mōhua (yellowhead),
Fiordland skink
The Fiordland skink (''Oligosoma acrinasum'') is a species of skink endemic to the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion of South Island, New Zealand. The Fiordland skink is found on one mainland locations and the exposed rocky shores of nume ...
and
knobbled weevils.
See also
*
List of islands of New Zealand
New Zealand consists of more than six hundred islands, mainly remnants of a larger land mass now beneath the sea. New Zealand is the seventh-largest island nation on earth, and the third-largest located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. Th ...
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. F ...
*
Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereo ...
References
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*
Notes
External links
Fiordland Islands restoration
Uninhabited islands of New Zealand
Island restoration
Islands of Fiordland
Fiordland National Park
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