The rat problem on oceanic islands—research is needed

Abstract

In October 1983 a rat was reported to have been seen on Gough Island, an outlier of the Tristan da Cunha Group in the South Atlantic. Gough Island has no permanently resident human inhabitants, but supports one of the largest and most diverse assemblages of breeding seabirds now remaining anywhere in the temperate zones. The author was a member of a small team of biologists that spent three weeks on Gough Island, in October-November 1984, to try to confirm whether there were any rats on the island, and if so to make recommendations for their control and extermination. The following proposals result from experience in carrying out this survey, and from writing World Conservation Strategy proposals for Oceanic Islands for the IUCN.