The Seychelles Island Foundation (SIF) has received a grant of $118,000 to strengthen measures against the invasive alien species on Aldabra Atoll.

Invasive alien species are animals and plants that are introduced accidentally or deliberately into a natural environment where they are not normally found, with serious negative consequences for their new environment.

Aldabra is one of the world’s largest atolls and home to a population of endemic giant Aldabra tortoises which fluctuates to around 100,000, more than the 98,000 population of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.

There have been recent devastating impacts from the spread of yellow crazy ants in Seychelles, especially on the wildlife of the Vallee de Mai, one of the island nation’s World Heritage sites on Praslin which is managed by SIF.

Due to the repeated encounters of these ants at different loading sites of the Aldabra supply boat, SIF said it needed to tighten biosecurity measures and increase its capacity to prevent unwanted species from travelling to Aldabra.

‘With Aldabra being a biodiversity hotspot, the unique species found there are specifically vulnerable to the introduction of invasive alien species, being one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss on islands’, Seychelles News Agency quoted the SIF Project Officer, Emeline Lafortune, as saying.

‘Preventing the incursion and establishment of further invasive alien species on Aldabra Atoll is fundamental to its protection and much more cost-effective than a later eradication, which is often near impossible’.

SIF says it will strengthen biosecurity measures between Mahe and Aldabra through the grant from the European Union and Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States under the Biodiversity and Protected Area Management (BIOPAMA).

The project covers procedures at the point of departure, which is the main island of Mahe, throughout the whole pathway to Aldabra.

‘The project’s objective is to strengthen biosecurity measures to ensure adequate quarantine facilities and to fully institutionalise biosecurity management to implement the Aldabra Atoll management plan from 2016 to 2026’, Lafortune said.

The last feral goat was eradicated from Aldabra in 2012. This feat was achieved by SIF, with funding from the European Union, after an intensive period of tracking. Rats and cats are two other species the foundation is looking to eradicate.

Source: Seychelles News Agency 

Photo source: Ron Van Oers