Stewart Island
Stewart Island, or Rakiura as the Maori call it after the amazing sunsets, contains about 1000 miles of coastline, if you measure all the inlets and bays. Ninety percent of the land area is national park, thus it is a place of few people. Home to the Maori people from the 13th century because of the island-rich resource of native flora, fauna & seafood, followed by sealers & whalers in the 19th century. The population peaked in the 1920’s with Rosshavet, the Norwegian whaling company, having its southern ocean station in Paterson’s Inlet. Today the island has a small fishing industry but is building an international reputation as an eco-tourism destination with some of New Zealand’s best birding, both on land and sea.
This morning’s excursion had us ashore on Ulva Island which is an open sanctuary managed by the Department of Conservation. The practice of re-introducing endangered species to offshore islands such as Ulva, where rats were eradicated in 1996, not only serves as an important management tool, but allows the public to experience what New Zealand’s forest ecosystems must have been like before humans arrived. Unfortunately, Norwegian rats found their way ashore again in late 2010 (they are able to swim up to 2km) but have after an extensive program by the Department of Conservation (New Zealand’s national park service) the island is again predator free.
The University of Otago, in collaboration with DOC and the Ulva Island Trust, is undergoing an extensive study of the role of inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity in island re-introduction programs. The information gained through this ongoing research is of immense importance to our whole island re-population programs.
