News Fiji

Finding the nesting sites of the `lost then found' enigmatic Fiji and Beck's petrels is the aim of two linked projects getting underway in 2016. In order to ensure the protection and survival of these Critically Endangered birds we must know where they are nesting and raising young. Only then can we put in place protection of their habitat and ensure they are safe from predators like rats and cats. Recent experience in `finding' other petrel species gives hop that one of the big bird puzzles of the Pacific can be solved.

A five year project undertaken by BirdLife together with the European Union to protect some of the most important sites for birds and other native wildlife throughout the Pacific is coming to an end. Working with national BirdLife Partners in the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Palau, invasive alien species have been permanently removed from 10 islands and safeguarded 10 species of globally threatened wildlife such as the Polynesian Storm Petrel, Tahiti Petrel, Micronesian Megapode and the Polynesian Ground Dove. A feature of the project was the involvement of local landowners and communities who have benefited from the work to remove the invasive species.