“Gannets galore” read a headline in the Tasmanian Bird Report 2024 as bird-lovers celebrated the discovery of another gannet breeding colony in local waters.
The new colony has been discovered close to an existing one on the Hippolyte Rocks, off the Tasman Peninsular, and the location is being mooted as a possible tourist attraction.
The good news featuring the gannets was tempered, however, by concerns that a virulent strain of avian influenza which has decimated gannet and other seabird populations in Europe would finally reach Australia. The northern gannets, although a different species, are closely related to the Australian ones.
By coincidence, as the 2024 bird report was being distributed at a recent Birdlife Tasmania meeting, there was a power-point presentation on the ravages of bird flu on the biggest colony of northern gannets in Britain, Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.
Where once the rock was covered in birds, vast areas are now devoid of gannets. The bird flu outbreak has claimed 25 per cent of British gannets, in healthy times comprising 50 per cent of the world population. But in Australia there remains hope that, because of Australia’s and especially Tasmania’s isolation, the impact of the flu on the British scale will not be seen here.
The existence of a colony on the western side of the Hippolyte Rocks has been known for some time and it was during an aerial survey in late 2021 that the second one, on the eastern side of the landmass, was discovered. A shore visit a year later confirmed that the second colony was flourishing and there remains the possibility that the colonies may join up, creating a lure for bird-watching tourists. Unlike Europe, the status of the Australasian gannet is secure for the time being, the population increasing by about two per cent each year.
The gannets can easily been spotted off the coast of Tasmania, especially around Bruny Island where they are often seen from the Kettering ferry.
With a two-metre wingspan, they make a magnificent sight as they plunge from a great height into the water.
The report by marine ecologists Nick and Peter Mooney and Nigel Brothers says the colony could be a boost to a tourist industry already encompassing cruises along the spectacular coastline of the Tasman Peninsula, which includes a whale-watching experience.
Bass Rock, with 70,000 birds, offered birding experiences close to the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, before bird flu stuck.
The Tasmanian researchers report it is anticipated the Hippolyte gannet population will increase, making the locality an “even more significant and memorable visitor destination”.
The experts sound a warning, though, beyond the threat of bird flu. An impediment lies in what they describe as the unsustainable and uneconomic exploitation of local small pelagic fish – notably Jack mackerel and red bait – on which gannets and many other seabirds depend.