Ringgold Isles Rat Eradication — Customary Landowner-Led Seabird Recovery (Fiji)

The mostly uninhabited Ringgold Isles (Cakaudrove Province, Fiji), an Important Bird Area supporting nesting seabirds, marine turtles and reef fish, had introduced Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) preying on seabird eggs and chicks across the group's islands.

In August 2008, BirdLife International's Fiji Programme partnered with the customary landowning clans Yavusa Naqelelevu and Mataqali Qilo to aerially bait all seven main islands of the group by helicopter, then established the landowner-led Ringgold Seabird Committee as a Site Support Group and trained villagers in biosecurity techniques to prevent reinvasion.

All seven islands were subsequently confirmed rat-free. Bridled Terns, not previously recorded in the group, colonised two of the islands, and a November 2010 BirdLife survey found colonies of Lesser Frigatebird, Black Noddy and Brown Booby each exceeding 1% of their global population on the islands.

Published monitoring is largely NGO and press reporting rather than peer-reviewed literature, and detailed post-2017 status updates were not found in this review; because the islands are remote and crossed by inter-island boat traffic, sustained community biosecurity vigilance remains essential to prevent rat reinvasion.

Read the full analysis: https://www.birdguides.com/news/the-magnificent-seven-rat-free-fijian-islands/