Tasman Island Restoration

Tasman Island is a 120 hectare island located on the south-east corner of Tasmania and part of the Tasman National Park. The island is a plateau surrounded by steep dolerite cliffs. Tasman Island is a very important seabird breeding site, including Australia’s largest colony of fairy prions.

Pennicott Wilderness Journeys contributed $100,000 to fund the restoration of Tasman Island’s ecosystem, in partnership with Wildcare and the Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service. The project included the eradication of 50 feral cats that were decimating the island’s fairy prion and short-tailed shearwater populations, killing 50,000 birds every year.

Since the eradication was declared a success in 2011, the project has gone into a monitoring phase. Results have shown that fairy prion and shearwater numbers have increased remarkably and other bird species not seen on the island for decades are returning, such as the Lewin’s Rail.

This was the first feral cat eradication undertaken on a near offshore island in Tasmania. The learnings from this project have been used to enhance other eradication projects both in Australia and overseas.