A team lead by the Island Conservation Society (ICS) has been organising and conducting over the last four weeks a series of island transfers of the endangered Seychelles White-eye (SWE) from its current stronghold population of Conception to Cousine and North islands.
Such transfers aim to create new populations on islands with sufficient suitable habitats free of rats and other introduced predators. They are a key contribution to the Species Action Plan produced in 2001 for this Globally Threatened Species, as part of the Seychelles White-eye Recovery Programme started by the Conservation section of the Ministry of Environment in 1998. This initial programme had led to an increased knowledge on the status of the species, its ecology and biology, the threats responsible for its decline, and finally its successful introduction in 2001 to Frégate Island, where intensive habitat restoration continues. This resulted in a significant increase of the SWE total population, which stands now at c. 400 birds: about 245 on Conception (before the transfers), 100 on Frégate and 60 on Mahé.