AAD
The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) has had a major role to play in the Macquarie Island saga and are using the island as a research base for most of their sub-antarctic operations. The scientists that live on Macquarie Island who refer to the island as 'Macca' are part of the AAD or the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife services who manage the Nature Reserve. After the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife services made Macquarie Island a Nature Reserve the AAD started the process of eradicating the pests that dwelled on the island. The AAD worked with the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife services to hunt down and bait the pests that were eroding the island and killing off the wildlife that was living there. On the 8th of April, 2014 Macquarie Island was officially pests free after seven years of the pest eradication program.
The Macquarie Island Eradication Project
Many programs in the sub-antarctic have been centered around Macquarie Island. One of which was the largest pest eradication plan in the world for the three species being eradicated from the island and with the 24.6 million dollars that the project received from the Tasmanian and Australian Governments the project was able to get under way almost straight away. The first stage of the program was to use helicopters to spread bait around the island because using the helicopters was the only way to accurately spread the bait around. All supplies and materials had to be transported by ship except for the helicopters which just flew to the island. The helicopters spread 300 tonnes of bait around the island while the hunters on the ground operated from ten strategically placed field huts around the island. The program hunted down more then 150,000 rabbits, mice and rats with the combination of baiting,
The Macquarie Island Eradication Project
Many programs in the sub-antarctic have been centered around Macquarie Island. One of which was the largest pest eradication plan in the world for the three species being eradicated from the island and with the 24.6 million dollars that the project received from the Tasmanian and Australian Governments the project was able to get under way almost straight away. The first stage of the program was to use helicopters to spread bait around the island because using the helicopters was the only way to accurately spread the bait around. All supplies and materials had to be transported by ship except for the helicopters which just flew to the island. The helicopters spread 300 tonnes of bait around the island while the hunters on the ground operated from ten strategically placed field huts around the island. The program hunted down more then 150,000 rabbits, mice and rats with the combination of baiting,