In this blog, Biosecurity Officer, Holly Paget-Brown shares the role Biosecurity Officers play in getting Rapid Incursion Response Hubs set up. The project collaborated with an existing hub team, on the Isles of Scilly, and have now set up a further six hubs around the UK.
What are Rapid...
In this blog, Biosecurity for LIFE project executive Laura Bambini shares what the project saw and found out on a recent biosecurity study trip to Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand. In November 2022, the project visited islands and met with organisations involved in efforts to safeguard seabirds in New Zealand from the threat of invasive non-native predators and discussed awareness-raising campaigns, traps, rodenticide use, dogs, checks, signage… sounds familiar, right? We love that there is so much we can share with and learn from each other in island biosecurity, no matter where in the world we haul from.
Biosecurity training for new staff takes place in the beautiful Shiant Islands in April 2023.
Guest blog: In this week's blog we welcome Lisa Morgan, Head of Islands and Marine Conservation at the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales to talk about how they responded to a shipwreck on Skomer Island last December and the biosecurity risk this posed.
Guest blog: In this week’s blog we welcome Emily Williams, Senior Marine Policy Officer with RSPB Cymru, who joined Biosecurity for LIFE in the Western Isles as part of her sabbatical this summer.
Tragically, this year our seabirds are facing an unprecedented and widespread outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The disease originated in poultry in Asia, passed into wild birds, and has led to multiple serious outbreaks, including the loss of 1/3 of the Solway wintering barnacle goose population last winter. A wide range of seabird species have been confirmed as infected and we are seeing large die offs of several species at their breeding colonies.
Here we welcome Sue Loughran, St Kilda ranger with National Trust for Scotland to tell us about biosecurity ‘From the edge of the world’. In the last few weeks we have been working with Sarah Lawrence (Biosecurity for Life Project Officer) to improve our measures for the islands of St Kilda, but what does “biosecurity” actually mean? How do we carry it out? How can everybody play their part?