Field Updates
October 13
The Rat Island seabird restoration crew safely returned to Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Homer aboard the 120-foot Tiglax research vessel.
Because the team completed its mission ahead of schedule, the Rat Island project was able to donate about $9,000 in food to the Homer Food Bank.
Oct. 6
The Rat Island conservation partners have completed the entire bait application! All the bait has been broadcast, and now the team begins its two years of monitoring to determine the success of the eradication. The excellent planning by the entire team allowed the field team to take advantage of the excellent weather on the island the last two weeks.
The team will continue to demobilize the field camp today, they expect that job to be completed by 1500 or 1600 hours this afternoon at which point the helicopters will begin their return trip to Homer. The R/V Tiglax will pull the field team off the island today, and return to Adak this afternoon or Tuesday morning.
October 3, 2008
Good weather persists on Rat Island, and the seabird restoration team continues to make great progress. The first bait application is complete. Bait was applied by hand to freshwater exclusion zones around the island’s lake complexes on Wednesday and Thursday. This time-intensive process was conducted to prevent bait from entering the island’s freshwater systems. Also on Thursday, the team began the second application on the mountains in the center of Rat Island and baited the small islet off of Ayugadak Point on the southeast corner of Rat Island. This islet is used by Steller sea lions and great care was taken to minimize disturbance to the sea lions during baiting operations.
On Friday, the team will take a day to assess the progress made and review all application data. The second bait application will occur on Saturday and Sunday on the inland and coastal sections. Once the second application is finished, the baiting operations will be complete and the team will begin to demobilize and prepare for their return.
October 1, 2008
The continuing good weather on Rat Island has allowed to team to continue to make great progress. The remainder of Rat Island, including sea stacks offshore, was baited on Tuesday, September 30. A small islet offshore of Ayugadak Point that is used as a haulout by Steller sea lions is scheduled next. An on-site observer is required when baiting on or near areas used by Steller sea lions. Additional crew, including the observers, are arriving aboard the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service research vessel, the M/V Tiglax, this morning (October 1). The Tiglax crew will conduct the pre-application sea lion count, and baiting will occur either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. The low-pressure system that appeared to be moving in has moved off, and good weather is expected through the weekend. If good weather continues, the second application will begin in the mountain area Thursday or Friday, October 4 or 5. If the good weather holds, the rest of the island will receive the second treatment over the weekend or early next week.
Sept. 29, 2008
Today marked the second day of seabird restoration operations on the island, and it's also the first sunny day. When the sun came up, the entire mountain range in the center of the island was clear. The helicopters were in the air by 11 a.m. and were able to spread bait on the mountain range (the project's first priority area) and on nearly 1,850 hectares overall. This amounts to nearly two-thirds of the island.
A promising weather forecast for Sept. 30 suggests that all of Rat Island proper should be baited by day's end. The team expects to put bait on the small islet off the southeast point of Rat Island (Ayugadak Point) on Wednesday. This would complete the first bait broadcast.
A second application is planned to help ensure the project's success. Another weather front is moving in (there always is in the Aleutians) expected to hit on Thursday, Oct. 2. That is expected to last three days. The second round of baiting may start as early as Monday, Oct. 6, but it is far too early to say so definitely.
"This is way ahead of schedule, and is a very positive sign for the entire project," according to Steve MacLean, director of The Nature Conservancy's Bering Sea program. "To have this level of success early in the project is incredible. This is a testament to the hard work that the whole partnership - the Conservancy, Island Conservation, and the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge - has put into restoring seabirds."