After a successful rat-eradication scheme, Rat Island, in
Alaska, is in need of a new name, and two New Zealand pilots'
skills are once again in demand.
Helicopters Otago managing director Graeme Gale, of Dunedin,
and Peter Garden Helicopters director Peter Garden, of
Wanaka, completed an Island Conservation group
rat-eradication mission in the Aleutian Islands in September
2008.
This month, biologists confirmed their work had paid off.
Not that the pilots needed any verification.
"We've been doing this for so long, we know when things have
gone right," Mr Garden said.
It was their proven track record in eradicating rats,
including on Campbell and Codfish islands in the Southern
Ocean, which landed them the job, and their success in it has
prompted offers of four more jobs.
"New Zealand is leading the field. They [clients] are coming
to New Zealand from right around the world for the expertise,
the equipment, technology and piloting skills," Mr Gale said.
The first of these jobs will take place in February, when the
men will tackle a 20,0000ha section of South Georgia, in the
South Atlantic Ocean, over four weeks, for the South Georgia
Heritage Trust.
Because the job is so big, it will take place over a
five-year period, with different sections of the island
included in each phase.
As the island is split by glaciers stretching to the sea,
which rats do not cross, they have the luxury of doing it in
stages.
Another job on Palmyra Atoll, south of Hawaii, is set for
July next year, with others on Henderson Atoll, part of the
Pitcairn Island group, and Gough Island in the South
Atlantic, to follow.
Mr Gale and Mr Garden will pilot two helicopters in South
Georgia equipped with GPS systems and bait buckets the
southern men have developed which enable an accurate and even
distribution of poison.
"We have the ability to go from a pest-control operation to
eradication. It all comes back to the skills of those guys
who are thinking outside the square," Mr Garden said.
ellie.constantine@odt.co.nz
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