Rush Hour for Bruny Seabirds

Pic: Fran Davis

Pic: Eric Woehler

Increasing tourist traffic on Bruny Island is a clear indicator of the
growing pressures on one of Tasmania’s most accessible seabird breeding
colonies.

The Tasmanian Department of State Growth is embarking on a reconstruction
project of the Bruny Island Main Road at the Neck, and BirdLife Tasmania
Convenor, Eric Woehler, said it was critical for the welfare of the birds to get
the new facilities built.

A new, bigger car park is to be constructed, along with a system of roadside
fences and under-road tunnels to protect Little Penguins, and a winding
boardwalk around the main dune will replace the existing steps to the
lookout.

Dr Woehler said Birdlife Tasmania welcomed the Department’s approaches
for advice on minimising the potential impacts to the penguins and the Shorttailed
Shearwaters that breed at the Neck each summer.

“The Department of State Growth has accommodated the relevant
recommendations that we have made regarding construction and threat
mitigation to the colony,” Dr Woehler said.

“Our greatest concern currently now is about how visitors treat the colony,
and the breeding birds’ arrival each night. I would ask Birdlife Tasmania
members to help spread the word on this,” Dr Woehler said.

“At all times people must keep to the path and boardwalk, and never enter
the colony as they run the risk of collapsing occupied burrows that would
result in deaths of the birds and chicks,” he said.

“At night, visitors must also abide by the need to use only red lights, so as not
to blind the penguins and shearwaters, and to be quiet while in the colony.”
Dogs are prohibited from the colony. Dogs are known penguin killers, and the
Neck is a declared Reserve.

Dr Woehler said there was no doubt that the number of visitors to the Neck
was increasing rapidly, as the traffic congestion this summer clearly showed.
The new car park will be larger, with 20 car spots and four bus spaces, and is
likely to fill the day it opens. But this will bring construction to the limit of
available space without significant impacts on the colony.

Up to 900 breeding pairs of Little Penguins, and up to 12,000 pairs of Short-
Tailed Shearwaters use the Neck colony each summer, according to Birdlife
Tasmania monitoring.

The construction of the car park, which will begin this year after the birds
have left for the winter, will remove a number of shearwater and penguin
burrows, expected to be fewer than 2% of the breeding populations.

“Not all burrows are occupied every year, and the birds are accustomed to
digging new burrows at the start of a breeding season, as burrows often
collapse during the winter months in their absence.”

No birds are expected to be in the colony during construction, Dr Woehler
added.
BirdLife Tasmania Convenor, Eric Woehler