The UK's Food & Environment Research Agency (FERA) has announced a proposed free Invasive Plant Pest Identification Service for Anguilla, BVI, Cayman, Montserrat, TCI and the Falklands. The primary aim of this project is to help protect the rich biodiversity and agricultural production in the UKOTs concerned, which are recognised as being at risk from invasive species. A recent example was the accidental introduction of the Pine Tortoise Scale to the Turks & Caicos Islands, where this insect has devastated the National Tree, the locally endemic Bahamas Pine.

Accurate and rapid identification is fundamental to the enforcement of quarantine measures to prevent the introduction of (or to effectively control) invasive plant pests. The project will be led by plant quarantine entomologists at FERA who, working with the Pest and Disease Identification Team, provide diagnostic and training services for the England and Wales Plant Health Service, and for a wide range of other customers. The Entomology and Nematology sub-teams have a wealth of experience and expertise in the identification of all plant-feeding insect orders, plant-feeding mites and plant-parasitic nematodes.

The initial phase of the project is to make an assessment of the current diagnostic capabilities and needs of each participating territory. The project will therefore require close collaboration between FERA and the relevant government authorities and conservation bodies. It may be possible to extend coverage to other UKOTs in due course.

FERA is seeking initial expressions of interest in receiving such support from stakeholders in the environmental and agricultural sectors in Anguilla, BVI, Cayman, Montserrat, TCI and the Falklands. Interested parties will ten be involved in a brief survey to assess current diagnostic capabilities and needs.

Expression of interest to: sharon.reid@fera.gsi.gov.uk

Further details can be found at: Defra Identification Service

The Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) reports that "at 2:49 pm on Friday 8th January 2010 a large pyroclastic flow forming event occurred at the Soufriere Hills volcano". Consequently most of the south of the island has been put on high alert with a hazard level 4 (level 5 being the highest) although no residents have been evacuated and there have been press releases by the tourist office.

The MVO are giving a daily update to a local radio station. For more information you can access the radio station ZJB radio Montserrat www.zjb.gov.ms at 16:00 Local time (20:00 UTC) for a daily update on recent activity.

The Caribbean Net News reported that:

"The island came to a temporary standstill as everyone took in the sight of the massive ash cloud that exploded but amazingly did not send much ash and no ballistic material into inhabited areas. Several residents remarked that they had not seen an ash cloud that broad since the early days of the volcano's reawakening in the mid 1990s."

The recent volcanic activity in Montserrat began in 1995, the Soufriere Hills volcano later depositing ash across much of the southern half of the island, causing massive environmental damage and resulting in many Montserratians leaving the island temporarily. Since then, people have started to return, but the habitable area is restricted to the northern third of the island, and occasional volcanic activity continues, as this report indicates. The safe zone is, indeed, safe for residents and visitors, with careful permanent monitoring of the volcano by a team of scientists at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

On the 25th January 2010 The Government of Montserrat's website announced:

"A Specially Vulnerable Area- made up of Zones A, B, C, F, T and U. It has been created to enable the preparation of precautionary plans for residents of communities in the affected area. The Specially Vulnerable Area was established when His Excellency the Governor, Peter Waterworth, signed an order under section 15 of the Disaster Preparedness and Response Act following a meeting of the National Disaster Preparedness, Response and Advisory Committee (NDPRAC) on 21st January 2010. Despite the creation of the Specially Vulnerable Area, NDPRAC has decided to maintain the hazard alert at Level 4 with entry restrictions remaining unchanged."

More information on the volcanic activity and a map of the island zones can be found on the Montserrat Volcano Observatory website: www.montserratvolcanoobservatory.info

Caribbean Net News Link:www.caribbeannetnews.com

Government of Montserrat website: www.gov.ms

London, 22nd January 2010

In response to a petition calling for greater support for conservation in the UKOTs, and highlighting the plight of seabirds on Gough Island, where invasive rodents are taking a terrible toll, the Office of the UK Prime Minster replies:

"Responsibility for environmental conservation in the Overseas Territories (OTs) has been devolved to Territory Governments. However, the British Government recognises that many Territories lack the financial and technical resources to manage on their own and works alongside OT Governments to provide support and assistance in areas where the territories need help."

The Prime Minister's Office goes on to outline the level of government assistance that already exists in support of nature conservation in the UKOTs such as: the ﾣ1million OTEP fund jointly managed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DfID) and the Challenge Fund supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) which is an earmarked fund for the UKOTs under the pre-existing Darwin Initiative which was announced at the UKOTCF conference in June 2009. The response goes on to highlight specific funding that has been directed to preliminary work to address the impacts of invasive species on Gough Island.

In a final statement they conclude that:

"We [the UK Government] are now better placed than we have been for many years to help the UKOTs address the environmental challenges that they face."

Mike Pienkowski (UKOTCF's Honorary Executive Director) said:

"There have been recent, welcome improvements in UK Government funding for conservation work in the UKOTs, including the Darwin Challenge Fund. However, it is important that existing funding schemes, such as OTEP, are maintained, and there remains a major gap in available funding, particularly for large-scale projects like those required to tackle invasive species."

To read the full response visit www.number10.gov.uk

The intention to establish a new funding mechanism for UK Overseas Territories under the UK Government's Darwin Initiative was first announced at the UKOTCF-organised conference in the Cayman Islands. Speaking at the conference in June 2009, Huw Irranca-Davies (UK Minister for the Natural and Marine Environment, Wildlife and Rural Affairs) said that a "Challenge Fund" would be established which was "intended actively to recognise the specific geographic and resource constraints affecting the UK's Overseas Territories aimed at giving Overseas Territories the best chance to secure a significant share of the substantial funding available under the Darwin Initiative".

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has now released details of the new Darwin Initiative Overseas Territories Challenge Fund. This fund offers an opportunity for UK Overseas Territories, either on their own or in partnership with institutions from the metropolitan UK or other UKOTs (including Crown Dependencies), to carry out longer-term and more ambitious scoping projects than under Darwin's usual Scoping Award mechanism. The new approach is designed both to help assess the likely degree of success of a potential main project for one or more UKOTs, and to allow for some pilot implementation work as well. This is intended to ensure that potential main projects are better grounded, and have a much greater chance of sustained success.

Guidance notes
Application form

Applications must be submitted by Friday 19th February 2010. For further details on the application process see http://darwin.defra.gov.uk

25th November 2009, Natural History Museum, London

2010 has been designated the International Year of Biodiversity, and countries around the world are developing initiatives and partnerships to raise awareness. Huw Irranca-Davies MP, Minister for Marine and Natural Environment, used the Cayman Islands Blue Iguana recovery project as an example of how an iconic species can be used to promote biodiversity and convey its importance to the general public, during an interview with the Guardian to mark the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity-UK (IYB-UK).

Asked whether people really understand what biodiversity is, Mr Irranca-Davies said "We've got to find ways to communicate this in a way that really matters to people. People get very excited about iconic species, particularly when they're large species; the great whale, the tigers of this world or even, where I was recently in the Cayman Islands, looking at the Blue Iguana and how [work on] that led to habitat re-creation".

In his speech at the IYB-UK launch, the Minister referred to the new Overseas Territories Challenge fund, which aims to support conservation projects in the UK Overseas Territories as part of the UK Government's Darwin Initiative, following the announcement he made earlier this year at the UKOTCF-organised conference in the Cayman Islands. It was during his visit to participate in the conference that Mr Irranca-Davies saw first-hand the work being undertaken by Fred Burton and others to further the conservation of the Blue Iguana, which is known only from the island of Grand Cayman.

For more information on IYB-UK, visit: www.biodiversityislife.net

Press release on the launch of IYB-UK: Download [178KB]

Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), key note speech: Download [234KB]

Listen to Guardian podcast: (Huw Irranca-Davies interview at 30-34 minutes)

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has announced a Foreign and Commonwealth Office consultation which will assess whether a Marine Protected Area is the right option for the future environmental protection of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Mr Miliband announced: "In March 2009, the Chagos Environment Network presented their vision of The Chagos Archipelago: its Nature and the Future which advocates the creation of one of the world's greatest natural conservation areas. This is a remarkable opportunity for the UK to create one of the world's largest marine protected areas and double the global coverage of the world's oceans benefiting from full protection.

We want to use this consultation to help us assess whether a marine protected area is the right option for the future environmental protection of the British Indian Ocean Territory. This document explains the issue on which we would like your views, and the ways in which you can send them to us. I strongly encourage you to participate in this consultation.

William Marsden, Chairman of the Chagos Conservation Trust, said "Britain has a rare opportunity to protect this marvelous, yet fragile, natural environment, by creating a conservation area comparable in importance with the Galapagos Islands or the Great Barrier Reef and of great benefit for people. We hope it will be very widely supported."

Alistair Gammell of the Pew Environment Group added "Establishing a large-scale protected area for the Chagos Islands and its waters would be a conservation legacy almost unrivalled in scale and significance anywhere in the world's oceans. The UK has the unique opportunity to protect an entire ecosystem and its marine life.

If the proposed Marine Protected Area is established, around half of the highest quality coral reefs in the Indian Ocean would be safeguarded. If the entire proposed area were to be declared a no-take zone, this would establish the world's largest site with that status, more than doubling the global area with full protection.

Details of how to respond to the consultation (which closes on 12 February 2010) can be found in the full document here [PDF 866KB, new window]

Copies of The Chagos Archipelago: its Nature and the Future are available from the Chagos Conservation Trust: www.chagos-trust.org

An adult green turtle has been tagged and tracked for over 550 miles in Caribbean waters and has been seen to avoid islands which are not UK Overseas Territories. Beginning her journey in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Suzie then travelled to the coast of the British Virgin Islands and on to Anguilla, while seeming to avoid Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Peter Richardson, of the Marine Conservation Society, one of the research partners said: "This is the first time that turtles from Turks and Caicos have been tracked and we didn't know where they would go. The first part of her journey was against the current, so she wasn't being carried. The mating season is almost over, so we have to assume she's heading to feeding grounds, but it could be that she's a very late breeder. We'll only find out by continuing to track her movements".

Suzie was fortunate to avoid areas such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as they offer little in the way of protection from fishermen. In June, scientists bought her freedom from local fishermen in Turks and Caicos where she was legitimately caught as her 40 inch shell measured more than 20 inches long. Upon arrival in the British Virgin Islands she was protected, as capture of turtles with a shell greater than 24 inches long is only permitted between December and May. She was also safe when reaching Anguilla, which has imposed a 15 year total ban on capture of turtles in order to allow populations to recover.

See further reports of this story:

Read full Times article here
Read full Metro article here
Read full BBC article here

Find out more about Suzie

Track Suzie's movements at SEATURTLE.org
Marine Conservation Society website www.mcsuk.org

Port Louis on Tuesday 21 July 2009

The Mauritian and British Governments met for the second round of talks on the Chagos Archipelago and British Indian Ocean Territory. The delegations were led by Mr S C Seeballuck, Secretary to Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, Mauritius and Mr Colin Roberts, Director of Overseas Territories Department, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The purpose of the meeting was to resume dialogue between Mauritius and the United Kingdom on the Chagos Archipelago and British Indian Ocean Territory.

During the discussion the British delegation proposed that consideration be given to preserving the marine biodiversity in the waters surrounding the Chagos Archipelago and British Indian Ocean Territory by establishing a marine protected area in the region. The Mauritian side welcomed, in principle, the proposal for environmental protection and agreed that a team of officials and marine scientists from both sides should meet to examine the implications of the concept with a view to informing the next round of talks that will take place in October. The UK delegation made it clear that any proposal for the establishment of the marine protected area would be without prejudice to the outcome of the proceedings at the European Court of Human Rights.

For the full communique Download here (16.1kb

The Grand Cayman Parrot, Amazona leucocephala caymanensis, and the Cayman Brac Parrot, Amazona leucocephala hesterna, are two subspecies of the Cuban parrot which are endemic to the Cayman Islands. The parrot is considered so precious to the Cayman Islands that it was made the National Bird. Sadly, it has become a victim of the development that has cleared much of its natural habitat. Increasingly forced to feed on farmland, the parrot can devastate mango crops, and it is believed that some of these iconic birds have been shot by farmers simply protecting their livelihoods.

Exciting work has begun, led by Cayman Wildlife Rescue, a Programme of the National Trust, to discourage the parrots from damaging crops. The project manager, Alison Corbett, has been working very closely with local farmers to find a solution which benefits them and protects the parrot population. In visiting local farmers here I have seen the true devastation the parrot has on the crop. These farmers work hard, battling many issues and I hated that Cayman's National Bird was considered by most to be a pest. I knew there were solutions out there, we just needed to try some alternatives.

As habitat for the parrots becomes more fragmented, so does the pressure on them to find food, often leading them to the farmers' fields where they can feast in abundance. The Bird Squawker works by broadcasting predatory hawk calls, parrot alarm calls and gun shots in a random pattern, so that the birds do not become habituated to the sounds, and uses the birds' instinctive fear of these noises to keep them away from areas where they might come into conflict with humans. This device has the potential to succeed in other situations, and hopefully will ensure a healthy population of parrots in the Cayman Islands for future generations to enjoy.

The Bird Squawker can be purchased from a Florida based company called Bird Busters. General enquiries can be made to jackwagner@birdbusters.com

Read full press release

National Trust for the Cayman Islands

The Governor of the Pitcairn Islands recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to protect whales and dolphins in the Pacific region.

The signing which follows a unanimous agreement by the Pitcairn Island Council took place at the second meeting of signatories to the Convention of Migratory Species MOU for the Conservation of Cetaceans and their Habitats in the Pacific Islands region held in Auckland on 28-29 July 2009.

Governor Fergusson said "Notwithstanding Pitcairn's small size and limited resources, this is an exciting opportunity for us to signal our support for the conservation of whales and dolphins in the region, to share information and gain from the knowledge and expertise of neighbouring countries".

Humpback whales are thought to have started migrating to the Pitcairn Islands around 15 years ago and its waters are used as a calving ground during the austral winter. A survey in July/August 2007 revealed around 60 sightings of single Humpbacks, mothers and calves. There have also been sightings of pilot whales and other species. It is hoped that contacts with other MOU signatories including Australia and New Zealand will assist in follow-up surveys and exploring opportunities for responsible whale-watching as part of a developing tourism industry on Pitcairn.

At the UKOTCF-organised Conference in Grand Cayman, UK Biodiversity Minister Huw Irranca-Davies announced plans for ear-marked funding and a new "Overseas Territories Challenge Fund" as part of the UK Government's Darwin Initiative.

The conference warmly welcomed this announcement, but called on the UK Government to do more to help meet the urgent environmental challenges faced in the UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Read full article

The Bermuda petrel (cahow), Pterodroma cahow, is endemic to Bermuda and has been adopted as the national bird. The cahow was one of the earliest victims of invasive species introduced by European explorers. Pigs released by passing Spanish sailors destroyed most of the cahow population in the sixteenth century, years before human settlement. It remains one of the rarest seabirds in the world, but was thought to be extinct (having last been seen in the 1620s), until being rediscovered in 1951. Just 17 pairs were found, nesting on some of the smallest and most remote rocky islands at the eastern end of Bermuda.

Pioneering conservation and ecological restoration work, led for years by Dr David Wingate, ensured the survival of the cahow on Bermuda, and began the slow task of restoring six-hectare Nonsuch Island to a condition suitable for the species. Cahows nest in deep rock or soil burrows, and most of the tiny islands where the bird persisted lacked enough soil to support sufficient nests. Artificial concrete burrows were installed, and almost 70% of the 86 pairs of cahows currently nesting use these structures. Over a number of years, work on Nonsuch Island eliminated rats and other introduced predators, and restored the natural vegetation.

Cahows visit Bermuda only to breed, returning to the exact spot where they were born, and live most of their lives over the open ocean. When a young cahow leaves the nest, it spends three or four years at sea before returning to land. Individual birds are relatively long-lived, and can exceed 40 years in age, but each nesting pair can produce just one egg per year, of which roughly half produce a chick.

Between 2004 and 2008, 105 cahow chicks were translocated to Nonsuch Island, and hand reared in burrows until they fledged and flew out to sea. In 2008, the first of these returned to Nonsuch as fully grown birds, and were seen prospecting for nest sites. In 2009, the first breeding pairs (at least seven) established nests on the island. Although cahows rarely produce chicks in the first year of nesting, one pair succeeded.

The first chick to be born on Nonsuch Island for nearly 400 years has been named Somers in honour of Sir George Somers, whose shipwreck in 1609 marked the beginning of the permanent settlement of Bermuda. The Nonsuch success may have come just in time. The tiny islands where the cahow survived in small numbers are increasingly threatened by erosion accelerated by hurricanes and by sea level rise, resulting in the flooding of the lowest lying nest burrows. However, Nonsuch is big enough potentially to support thousands of pairs of cahows, with enough soil for them to excavate their own nest burrows.

Jeremy Madeiros, Conservation Officer (Terrestrial) for the Bermuda Government's Department of Conservation Services, who has overseen the Cahow Recovery Programme for the last nine years, said "I'm hopeful that next year we will see more chicks born on Nonsuch and we will then truly have secured a major victory in ensuring the future survival of this most extraordinary bird". Dr David Wingate said "I cannot think of a more perfect success story appropriate to the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Bermuda".

See further reports of this story:

Bermuda Government Full Press Release
Royal Gazette Article
Washington Post Article

For more about the cahow:

Arkive Website
Birdlife Website
IUCN Redlist Website

A Scientific Symposium and Workshop on Basking Shark Conservation, Management
and Research will be held on 2- 5 August, 2009, in Port Erin, Isle of Man, hosted by
the Government of the Isle of Man.

The meeting will:

1. Promote international collaboration to establish the status of basking sharks globally
2. Develop research to assess the extent of individual movement between regions
3. Develop strategies for improving conservation
4. Refine approaches to management

The meeting will also provide opportunities to present research results, to share experience of conservation and management, and to develop new international collaborations and strategies for supporting basking shark conservation globally.

For further conference information please contact:

Fiona Gell fiona.gell@gov.im
Mauvis Gore mauvis@saveourseas.com or
Jackie Hall inter.tech@btinternet.com

The chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has been spreading around the world for the last decade, devastating populations of amphibians, in which it causes a disease known as chytridiomycosis. Some frogs and related species have been driven to extinction or dramatically reduced in numbers as a result.

The island of Montserrat is home to many rare and threatened species. One of these is Leptodactylus fallax, a frog known locally as the mountain chicken. Its meat is said to taste like poultry (hence the name), and the species has already come under pressure from hunting, the affects of Montserrat's active volcano, and invasive species such as rats. It is classified on the IUCN's 2008 Red List as Critically Endangered. One of the world's largest frogs, weighing around a kilogram, the mountain chicken is now known only from Montserrat and the neighbouring island of Dominica, having already been lost from other parts of the Caribbean.

The chytrid fungus was first reported in Dominica in December 2002. In little over a year, around three-quarters of the mountain chicken population there had been wiped out. Conservationists were afraid that the disease would spread to Montserrat on frogs accidentally introduced with fruit or other imported consignments. When reports of dead frogs were recently received from Montserrat, it was the lab established in Dominica by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), with support from the Darwin Initiative, that confirmed the diagnosis that everyone had feared- chytridiomycosis. Dr Andrew Cunningham from ZSL's Institute of Zoology said "If this was killing mammals or birds in the same way that it's killing amphibians, millions and millions would have been spent on it".

Scientists from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust are working with Departments of the Montserrat Government to survey the impact of the disease on Montserrat's mountain chicken populations, and to remove healthy frogs into captivity. These individuals will form the nucleus of a disease-free population.
Prof John Fa, Durrell's Director of Conservation Science, said "We have a major commitment to this species and biodiversity on the island. Now that chytrid is there, this is a major setback and, if evidence from other isolated populations is anything to go on, we have to act very fast indeed".

See further reports of this story:
Durrell News
BBC News

For more on chytridiomycosis and the chytrid fungus:
Amphibian Ark
IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group

For more on the biodiversity of Montserrat:
Durrel Library

Blue Iguanas have suffered a catastrophic decline as humans settled the land. By 2002 less than twenty-five wild individuals remained. In 2002 the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP) was launched, expanding from early captive breeding efforts by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands which started in 1990. Still operating under the aegis of the National Trust, but partnering with the local Department of Environment and the QE II Botanic Park, the BIRP has achieved remarkable progress over the last seven years, bringing the wild population of Blue Iguanas from functional extinction in 2002, to some two hundred and fifty in the wild by 2009.

Supported also by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the International Reptile Conservation Foundation, the BIRP first completed a pilot restoration of wild Blue Iguanas in the QE II Botanic Park on Grand Cayman, developing and testing techniques for successful releases. Then the Programme embarked on large-scale population restoration in the Salina Reserve, a 625-acre National Trust protected area in north-eastern Grand Cayman. Only 14% of the Reserve area is suitable Blue Iguana habitat, which severely limits the extent to which a self-sustaining wild population of Blue Iguanas can be restored there.

If the Cayman Islands are successful in adding some adjacent land to the new protected area, there may soon be enough Blue Iguana habitat available to raise the wild Blue Iguana population to a level that can be self-sustained in the long term. From a scenario of little hope in 2002, the BIRP and its partners are now in sight of the kind of success that is all too rare in the world today. The Grand Cayman Blue Iguana can be saved from extinction, and in a few more years the Cayman Islands may be able to boast that they have achieved just that.

For further information visit the BIRP website: www.blueiguana.ky

Interim Report, published on 16th March 2009, of the Turks & Caicos Islands
Commission of Inquiry into Possible Corruption or other Serious Dishonesty in Recent
Years of Past and Present Elected Members of the Legislature
Commission of Inquiry Report

UK Government takes steps to suspend TCI constitution
Read article

Turks and Caicos Islands Governor's statement
Read Statement

Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution (Interim Amendment) Order
Read Order

Leading experts will present the latest findings on the current state of reef-building corals and coral reefs and what must be done now to save them for future generations.

Organised by Paul Pearce-Kelly, Senior Curator, ZSL and Dr Alex Rogers, Institute of
Zoology, ZSL.
Talks: Speakers TBC.
Download the dinner booking form here

The talks are free and open to the public (no advance booking or registration required). Talks will begin at 6.00pm; doors open at 5.15pm and seats will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. A dinner with the speakers will follow this Scientific Meeting and places must be booked in advance.

Further Information: Joy Hayward,
Scientific Meetings Coordinator,
Zoological Society of London, Regents Park,
London
NW1 4RY.
Tel:+44 (0)20 7449 6227.
Fax: +44 (0)20 7449 6411.
E-mail: joy.hayward@zsl.org.

Related links Zoological Soceity of London