by Ria Olivier | Jan 24, 2023 | Announcement, Jobs, Marion Island, Mice Eradication, Prince Edward Islands, sub-Antarctic
The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project, a partnership between the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and BirdLife South Africa, plans to eradicate invasive mice from Marion Island. The project is gaining increasing momentum as we work towards an eradication operation, currently envisaged for the austral winter of 2025. There remains a lot to do between now and then, and the project is seeking to recruit some key positions for the project. These provide an exciting opportunity to be part of the project team working towards restoring Marion Island and reclaiming it for its globally important seabirds.
Current Vacancies:
- Assistant Project Manager
- Administration and Finance Officer
- Prospect Researcher.
More details on these vacancies can be found here.
With detailed post descriptions found here.
Application deadline: 17 February 2023
Text: Robyn Adams, Communications Officer and Project Assistant (The Mouse-Free Marion Project)
Image: Wandering Albatrosses, Marion Island. Photo: Otto Whitehead – supplied and edited by MFM
Text Edited and Featured Image Design: Anche Louw, Digital Marketing and Communications Manager, SAPRI
by Ria Olivier | Aug 27, 2021 | Environment, Marine Protected Area, Marion Island, Mice Eradication, Research, SANAP, Science
Ecosystem processes are changing worldwide, especially with the impacts of invasive species being exacerbated by climate change. This is particularly obvious in the Southern Ocean where a warmer and dryer environment allows the proliferation of species once limited by the cold climate. South African Special Nature Reserve, Marion Island is no exception. A recent proliferation of invasive House Mouse attacks on endangered breeding seabirds suggests a profound alteration of the natural ecosystem. This has led to the planned eradication of mice at Marion Island in winter 2023.
For the next three years, the new SANAP project co-led by Dr Maëlle Connan (Research Fellow in the Marine Apex Predator Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University) and Prof. Peter Ryan (director of the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology – University of Cape Town) will focus on three data deficient species of avian scavengers: Black-faced Sheathbill, Kelp Gull and Brown Skua.
By focusing on these three species and some of their prey, the project intends first to fill identified scientific gaps that are crucial for best planning of the mouse eradication. Second, these three scavengers will be used as indicators of recovery of the terrestrial ecosystem post-eradication by establishing baselines for the scavenger guild and their prey against which the impact of a successful mouse eradication can be measured in years to come. (Above: Left – Maelle Connan, Right – Peter Ryan)
(Above l-r: Sub-Antarctic Skua, Black-Faced Sheathbill)
(Above: Eleanor Weideman on Marion Island)
An important aspect of the project will entail conducting regular censuses and seasonal round island counts in addition to behavioural observations of the focal scavenger species. Indeed, the three species to be studied are at the top of the terrestrial food chain, and thus can be used as indicators of recovery of the island biota post-eradication.
On one hand, Black-faced Sheathbills and Kelp Gulls used to predate on terrestrial invertebrates, at least seasonally, but this behaviour has decreased in sheathbills as invertebrate populations have collapsed through mouse predation. There are no recent data for Kelp Gulls. On the other hand, many pairs of Brown Skuas predate mainly on burrowing petrels, thus will inform on the recovery of these nocturnal species from mouse predation. The skua data will be complemented by the implementation of an automated acoustic monitoring to detect the presence and coarse distribution of the most elusive and cryptic nocturnal species which are notoriously difficult to study. (Left – Eleanor Weideman in the field on Marion Island.)
Data obtained during the project will be swiftly shared to the Mouse-Free Marion programme manager Dr Anton Wolfaardt, to ensure updated information is available for the best planning of the mouse eradication.
Cover Image: Sub-Antarctic Skua – photo credit: Maelle Connan
Text supplied by Maelle Connan.
Photo Credits: Maelle Connan, Yinhla Shihlomuhe, Isabel Micklem.
by Ria Olivier | Jul 5, 2021 | Biosecurity, Environment, Invasion Biology, Marion Island, Mice Eradication, Research, Science
Marion Island (29 000 hectares) and Prince Edward (4500 hectares), collectively known as the Prince Edward Islands (PEIs) were annexed by South Africa in December 1947 and January 1948, respectively. Since then, South Africa has maintained a research and weather station on Marion Island, Prince Edward remains uninhabited. The PEIs were declared a Special Nature Reserve in 1995, a Ramsar Wetland Site of International Importance in 2007 and the surrounding waters a Marine Protected Area in 2009. The islands, governed by a suite of national environmental legislation under the Prince Edward Islands Management Plan (which includes a plan for the control and eradication of invasive alien species), are managed by the Oceans and Coasts Branch of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) as the designated Management Authority under the National Environmental Management Protected Areas Act 57 of 2003.
The House Mouse Mus musculus (Photo Credit: Stefan Schoombie), inadvertently introduced to Marion Island by sealers in the early 1800s, successfully established on the island. With the human occupation of the island in 1948, four cats were brought to the island to control the mice in and around the station. However, these cats bred on the island, with their offspring becoming feral, and by the 1970s the population had increased to about 2000 individuals that were killing some 450 000 birds per year, mostly chicks of burrow-nesting species.
With South Africa’s successful eradication of the cats in 1991 (confirmed in 1992), until recently the largest island upon which this has been achieved, the mice continued to thrive and over the years have had devastating effects on Marion’s fragile ecosystem by negatively affecting invertebrate densities, impacting on the vegetation by consuming seed loads and preying upon the chicks of burrowing petrels (since the 1980s) and surface-breeding albatrosses (since 2003), with ‘scalpings’ occurring from 2009 and attacks on adult birds recorded more recently in 2019. (Image Credit: FitzPatrick Institute)
Marion Island supports some 25% of the world’s breeding population of Wandering Diomedea exulans, 12% of Sooty Phoebetria fusca and 7% of Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma Albatrosses and smaller percentages of Light-mantled Albatrosses P. palpebrata and Grey Petrels Procellaria cinerea. It is clear something needs to be done or the severe impact of the mice could result in critical impacts on global populations and in the extirpation of up to 18 of the 27 bird species found on Marion within the next 30 to 100 years. (below l-r: Wandering Albatross, Sooty Albatross and chick, Grey-headed Albatross and chick. (Photo Credit: Stefan Schoombie)
In what would later become a partnership with DFFE, a Feasibility Study and Risk Assessment, undertaken in 2016 by John Parkes on behalf of BirdLife South Africa (BLSA), indicated that eradication was indeed possible. Also funded by BLSA, Draft Project and Operational Plans to eradicate mice on Marion Island were subsequently developed in 2018 by New Zealand eradication expert, Keith Springer, following an island visit. DFFE has been working closely with the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) over the last few years in support of the Gough Island Restoration Programme (GIRP) which aims to eradicate House Mice on Gough during June to September 2021. For more information and the latest updates on the GIRP, please visit: https://www.goughisland.com
On 12 May 2020, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project was signed between DFFE and BLSA. Subsequently, a MFM Management Committee was established to initiate the development of the project and the two MoU partners are now working closely, together with various experts and institutions (including those involved with successful operations on other islands), on the detailed planning on all operational aspects required for the execution of this complex and costly project.
The MFM Project will make use of internationally agreed best-practice approaches to eradicate mice from the island. The Feasibility Study and draft Project and Operational Plans highlight that the only methodology offering any chance of success on an island of the size and topography of Marion Island is aerial spreading of bait containing a rodenticide with a proven capacity to eradicate mice. The systematic aerial sowing of bait will be conducted by GPS-guided helicopters with underslung bait buckets to ensure every single mouse territory is covered. The aerial baiting will be complemented by hand-baiting approaches in and around the base and other infrastructure on the island. If a single pregnant female is not targeted, it could result in the failure of the entire operation, but if it works, Marion Island will be by far the largest island in the world from which House Mice have successfully been eradicated.
Time window trade-offs have been assessed and it has been determined that winter (April/May – August/September) is the optimal period in which to implement an eradication operation. This is the non-breeding period for mice at Marion, when their population size is low and natural food resources are minimal, rendering bait more attractive. A winter-baiting operation also reduces the risks to non-target seabird species on the island, as many are not resident on the island during the winter months.
Currently, the eradication exercise is planned for the austral winter of 2023 and, to review and update the Project and Operational Plans, a Project Manager (Dr Anton Wolfaardt – photo left) and an Operations Manager (Mr Keith Springer – photo right) have been appointed.
A project of this nature requires substantial funding. To date, funds provided and committed are comprised largely of donations, government funding and crowd sourcing to save Marion Island’s seabirds. For more information and the latest updates on the MFM Project, as well as to ‘Sponsor a Hectare’ (which is currently standing at just over R2 million), please visit http://www.mousefreemarion.org.za
Text compiled by Carol Jacobs - Directorate: Biosecurity (DFFE)
Images from Marion Mouse Free Project, Stefan Schoombie,
FitzPatrick Institute and Antarctic Legacy of South Africa digital archive.
Cover Image: Otto Whitehead
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by Ria Olivier | Apr 12, 2021 | Announcement, Environment, Invasion Biology, Marion Island, Mice Eradication
Do you want to be involved in this project or just want to be informed? The project’s webpage and social pages will keep you up to date and the SANAP and ALSA website will post on the activities.
“Marion Island is the jewel in South Africa’s island crown – it is huge and beautiful, hosts an astonishing array of endemic species and charismatic marine megafauna, and is pristine. Or nearly pristine.
“After cats were eradicated from Marion Island in the early 1990s (it remained the largest island on earth cleared of cats for many years), mice were left as the only introduced mammal there. At the time, no thought was given to tackling mice, even though their impacts on invertebrates such as the flightless moths and weevils, plant communities, nutrient cycles, etc., were gigantic. Little did we know that mice could become such a significant threat to seabirds. Work done at Gough Island demonstrated that mice can wreak devastation on seabird colonies, and now they’re attacking seabird chicks at Marion Island, with increasing impacts each year.”
The Mouse-Free Marion project is gaining increasing momentum, as we work towards an eradication operation in the austral winter of 2023. The Mouse-Free Marion Project, a collaborative project underway to eradicate rodents from Marion Island, currently has the following opportunities available:
On the projects website there is FAQ that can answer some of yours:
- How long will the operation take?
- How will the mice be killed?
- Is this humane?
- How long does the poison stay in the environment?
- How did the mice get there?
- How can we be sure that this will work?
- Why don’t the birds protect themselves?
- Why is the operation so expensive?
- How will you prevent mice from getting back on the island in future?
- What about other wildlife / collateral damage?
- What will happen to the carcasses?
- Has this ever been done before?
- Has anything on the island become dependent on the mice as prey?
Text taken from “Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds. The Mouse Free Marion Project”
Photo credit – Image of Wondering Albatrosses: Ben Dilley
This is particularly obvious in the Southern Ocean where a warmer and dryer environment allows the proliferation of species once limited by the cold climate. South African 
For the next three years, the new SANAP project co-led by Dr Maëlle Connan (Research Fellow in the 
(Above l-r: Sub-Antarctic Skua, Black-Faced Sheathbill)
On one hand, Black-faced Sheathbills and Kelp Gulls used to predate on terrestrial invertebrates, at least seasonally, but this behaviour has decreased in sheathbills as invertebrate populations have collapsed through mouse predation. There are no recent data for Kelp Gulls. On the other hand, many pairs of Brown Skuas predate mainly on burrowing petrels, thus will inform on the recovery of these nocturnal species from mouse predation. The skua data will be complemented by the implementation of an automated acoustic monitoring to detect the presence and coarse distribution of the most elusive and cryptic nocturnal species which are notoriously difficult to study. (Left – Eleanor Weideman in the field on Marion Island.)
Cover Image: Sub-Antarctic Skua – photo credit: Maelle Connan
The House Mouse Mus musculus (Photo Credit: Stefan Schoombie), inadvertently introduced to Marion Island by sealers in the early 1800s, successfully established on the island. With the human occupation of the island in 1948, four cats were brought to the island to control the mice in and around the station. However, these cats bred on the island, with their offspring becoming feral, and by the 1970s the population had increased to about 2000 individuals that were killing some 450 000 birds per year, mostly chicks of burrow-nesting species. 
With South Africa’s successful eradication of the cats in 1991 (confirmed in 1992), until recently the largest island upon which this has been achieved, the mice continued to thrive and over the years have had devastating effects on Marion’s fragile ecosystem by negatively affecting invertebrate densities, impacting on the vegetation by consuming seed loads and preying upon the chicks of burrowing petrels (since the 1980s) and surface-breeding albatrosses (since 2003), with ‘scalpings’ occurring from 2009 and attacks on adult birds recorded more recently in 2019. (Image Credit: FitzPatrick Institute)
In what would later become a partnership with DFFE, a 
The systematic aerial sowing of bait will be conducted by GPS-guided helicopters with underslung bait buckets to ensure every single mouse territory is covered. The aerial baiting will be complemented by hand-baiting approaches in and around the 
A project of this nature requires substantial funding. To date, funds provided and committed are comprised largely of donations, government funding and crowd sourcing to save Marion Island’s seabirds. For more information and the latest updates on the MFM Project, as well as to ‘
“Marion Island is the jewel in South Africa’s island crown – it is huge and beautiful, hosts an astonishing array of endemic species and charismatic marine megafauna, and is pristine. Or nearly pristine.
The Mouse-Free Marion project is gaining increasing momentum, as we work towards an eradication operation in the austral winter of 2023. The Mouse-Free Marion Project, a collaborative project underway to eradicate rodents from Marion Island, currently has the following opportunities available: 
