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A world-first conservation project is underway on this remote WA island
This unique drone project will remove invasive mice and help seabirds return to the island after 100 years.
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Explore
2 min readExplore
This unique drone project will remove invasive mice and help seabirds return to the island after 100 years.
Published
2 min read
Text size
Published
Text size
Browse Island, located about 180km offshore in the Timor Sea, has been largely abandoned by breeding seabirds for more than a century following the introduction of invasive South East Asian house mice.
The rodents, which arrived during the guano mining era in the early 1800s, have since preyed on unguarded eggs, preventing seabirds from successfully nesting.
Now, an ambitious eradication project is underway, led by the WA Government’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) in collaboration with researchers from Monash University and drone specialists from New Zealand.
In a global first, the team is using drone technology to remove the mice population from the island. While similar methods have been used to eradicate rats on remote islands, this is the first time it has been attempted on house mice.
The operation is not without its challenges. Browse Island sits around 450km, or a two-day sail, from Broome, requiring careful planning to transport equipment and supplies during a narrow tidal window.
Once on site, a custom-built quadcopter drone, capable of carrying around 10kg of bait per trip, was used to distribute more than 700kg of bait across the island’s 17 hectares. Flying in a precise “lawn mower” pattern, the drone systematically covered the terrain to ensure every part of the island was reached.
More than 70 bird species have been recorded on Browse Island, and while many don’t permanently reside there, recent years have seen a promising shift. After decades with no recorded breeding activity, around 20,000 seabirds have begun returning to the island since 2018, offering hope that restoration efforts could help re-establish it as a thriving nesting site.
If successful, the project could pave the way for new approaches to pest control in remote environments and, most importantly, help restore Browse Island as a safe breeding ground for seabirds once again.
Images: Courtesy of DBCA
