Great Barrier Island - The last chance for Kiwi?

Despite intensified predator control the kiwi population continues to decline.

The Department of Conservation have released a discussion document on a Kiwi Recovery Plan for 2006-2016.  This will supersede the current Recovery Plan 1996-2006. The goal of securing representative populations of all kiwi types in the wild in their natural ranges will not be met by 2006.  It may never be met.

“Work on the genetic distribution of kiwi over the last 10 years has significantly increased the number of distinct populations requiring protection”. There are some species where the populations have dropped to a level that is not sustainable.  In very few areas intensive predator control coupled with incubation and captive rearing programmes have enabled kiwi to hold the line and increase locally.

“If the goal for the term of the plan is achieved approximately 11,600 kiwi will be protected and breeding and, as a minimum, sustaining themselves by 2016. However the current population of kiwi will have reduced from 75,000 to around 40,000.” Do we have to accept a 50% decline in the kiwi population before effective management can halt it?

The suggested goal for the new plan “Ensure a minimum of 500 pair of each kiwi species are predator safe and able to sustain or expand their numbers”.  Is this a sustainable realistic goal?  This is considered to be the minimum number to guard against inbreeding and chance events such as fire or disease. If this is the case then the current protected island sanctuaries are not large enough (excluding Hauturu) to support this population and so are only useful as breeding zones.

As stoats are recognised as the major cause of kiwi decline Great Barrier Island would surely be the logical place to mount a large-scale recovery programme.  At 30,000 hectares with the majority in native bush there is ample room to support a major population of kiwi.  With Kaikoura Island now in public ownership a great opportunity exists to use it as a test case. It could be that there are a number of species on Great Barrier Island that exist here because there are no kiwi. Remove all the pests and inventory the types of species currently present, even add those on the main island if not currently present, then introduce kiwi. Re-inventory a year after introduction.

Great Barrier Island is not without its problems, which are primarily feral cats and pet dogs. In the presence of stoats feral cats have not been seen as a major threat to kiwi. Whether this would be true in the absence of stoats is another question. Eliminating feral cats can only be achieved if all the domestic cats are first spayed or neutered.  This would best be done in conjunction with a rat eradication so as to eliminate both pests at once. An intensive programme to bird aversion train all dogs on the island could overcome this threat.  At the same time it would protect most other ground-nesting birds. Is there the public will to do this in order that the call of the kiwi may once again be heard on Great Barrier Island?

I believe the kiwi recovery plan needs to build in these actions before another 10 years have passed and Great Barrier Island truly becomes the last chance for kiwi survival.

Tony Bouzaid