Fiordland Lobster Company
Investment in conservation is an investment in the future for local company
Fiordland Lobster Company has been instrumental in helping the Department of Conservation with the restoration of Pigeon Island, an off-shore island in Fiordland National Park.
In 2005 the company funded the island’s intensive trapping programme and by 2007 the stoat population had been wiped out. Fiordland Lobster followed up this success by helping the Department reintroduce mohua/yellowhead and South Island robin/kakaruai to Pigeon Island - birds last seen on the island 100 years ago.
Mohua return to Pigeon Island
This three-year restoration project also involved cutting two and a half kilometres of tracks and laying stoat trapping tunnels over the island. A trap line was also established on nearby Resolution Island to prevent a reinvasion of stoats swimming the divide.
Returning Pigeon Island to what early conservationist Richard Henry would have encountered in the 1800s and re-introducing native species to the island might not have happened had it not been for the support the Department received from the Fiordland Lobster Company.
The company and the Department’s long-term goal is to restore both Pigeon and Resolution islands to their former glory.
The first knock down of stoats has been carried out on Resolution Island. It won’t be long before bird song will be radiating from the next pest-free island.