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Good practice Imported

Suwarrow Atoll Rat Eradication and Seabird Monitoring (Cook Islands)

Cook Islands · Suwarrow Atoll · See the Cook Islands profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 90% 27/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A brodifacoum rat-eradication operation on Suwarrow atoll's Motu Tou in 2013, run by the Cook Islands National Environment Service with BirdLife International and Te Ipukarea Society, aimed to protect seabird colonies including 13% of the world's lesser frigatebirds.

Suwarrow Atoll Rat Eradication and Seabird Monitoring (Cook Islands)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Cook Islands National Environment Service / Te Ipukarea Society / BirdLife International
Period
2008 (infestation found) – 2013 eradication – 2018 follow-up survey – ongoing
Keywords
invasive rodent eradication, seabird colony protection, marine national park management

Context

Suwarrow National Park is a remote, uninhabited coral atoll roughly 930 km northwest of Rarotonga, hosting globally significant seabird colonies including lesser frigatebirds, sooty terns and red-tailed tropicbirds. A 2008 survey found black noddies, present on the islet of Motu Tou in a 2000 survey, had disappeared, and identified a rat infestation as the cause.

Activities

The Cook Islands National Environment Service, working with BirdLife International and local NGO Te Ipukarea Society, ran a rat-eradication operation using brodifacoum cereal bait pellets from 22 April to 29 May 2013. Ongoing biosecurity management was then handed to an on-site National Environment Service park ranger stationed seasonally on the atoll.

Results

Follow-up monitoring in 2018 found the operation had not fully succeeded: a remnant rat population was detected persisting on one small lagoon islet, more than a decade after the original operation.

Conclusions

The case illustrates both the conservation stakes of invasive-rodent control on remote Pacific seabird strongholds and the practical difficulty of achieving total eradication across dispersed, hard-to-access islets.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Not disclosed; a small-scale atoll bait operation plus ongoing seasonal ranger staffing, likely low-cost relative to national conservation budgets.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Infestation identified 2008; eradication operation April-May 2013; follow-up survey 2018 found incomplete eradication; biosecurity monitoring ongoing.
Staffing & skills
Cook Islands National Environment Service park ranger (seasonally stationed on the atoll), BirdLife International technical eradication team, Te Ipukarea Society (local NGO)

Conditions for success

  • Multi-agency partnership (government + international NGO + local NGO)
  • Permanent on-site ranger for post-eradication biosecurity

Common failure modes

  • Remnant rat population persisting on a small lagoon islet after the 2018 follow-up survey — multi-islet atolls are hard to fully clear
  • Remote, hard-to-access islets complicate complete eradication

Where it fits

Governance type
national park / government-NGO partnership
Scale
single remote atoll
Income level
small island developing state

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Philanthropic / foundation funding

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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