In the ninth blog in the series on the Strannik 2023 Auckland Island Expedition, Botany Curator Heidi Meudt interviews the two organisers behind it. Rodney Russ and Alex Fergus discuss their subantarctic experiences, including those on the expedition, and offer their insights, passion, and above all hope for the future of these amazing islands.

Tell me about how the two of you met, and how your shared experiences lead to the Strannik 2023 Auckland Island Expedition

Rodney: As an 18-year-old in 1972, I was fortunate to go on my first Auckland Islands expedition, which had a profound influence on me and in shaping my career and my convictions. I had also read extensively about the coastwatching period in the Subantarctic Islands (1941–45) and had come to appreciate the impact that these islands had had on a number of young but eventually eminent New Zealand naturalists who had been deployed as coastwatchers.

When Heritage Expeditions started promoting Subantarctic Island trips, we established Enderby Trust to sponsor young(er) naturalists to visit these islands.

In 2004, Alex was granted one of these scholarships, and as I was so impressed with his botanical knowledge, passion and communication skills, I offered him a job as lecturer and guide at Heritage Expeditions. So he was the obvious choice to take the lead on this expedition.

Alex: I was very lucky to get the opportunity at the beginning of 2005 to join my first Forgotten Islands of the Subantarctic expedition as an Enderby Trust scholarship recipient, where we visited multiple subantarctic island groups. It wasn’t until 2010 that I was back in the subantarctic, this time as part of the Campbell Island Bicentennial Expedition, during which I reconnected with Heritage Expeditions on multiple occasions, and by 2015 I was leading subantarctic expeditions with them whilst also working for the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) full-time.

On my first ‘work’ trip with Heritage Expeditions, I keenly recall being on a small knoll of Chionochloa antarctica above Tagua Bay, when Rodney called together a group of ambling tourists, and did something no-one had ever done for me before: he gave me a platform to wax lyrical about plants, which I happily did. This stuck with me, and so several years later when Rodney mentioned David’s manuscript and this expedition, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

Why are the subantarctic islands so special, in a general sense, and also to you personally?

Alex: There are some obvious natural history features that make this region spectacular: the suite of large colourful megaherbs, the breeding and diversity centres of penguins and albatross, the low treeline which brings alpine environments to near sea level the further south you go.

Much of my appreciation of the islands relates to experiencing people in these environments: seeing the amazement of first-time visitors; meeting my wife Jessie on Motu Ihupiko | Campbell Island; spending weeks each year with Rodney, his sons Nathan and Aaron, and his typically wonderful guides working for Heritage Expeditions; and connecting with other volunteers and scientists such as Colin Meurk and Mark Crompton (who has spent over 7 years on Campbell Island!). Perhaps there is also some internal longing for those of us who derive from high-latitude stock toward reveling in what feel like polar frontiers.

Rodney: I think the scientific explanation of the specialness of the subantarctic Islands and in particular the Auckland Islands is well documented. But there is another magnitude of ‘specialness’ that is often experienced by those who have visited, lived and worked on the Islands. We tried with words and photos to capture some of this ‘specialness’ in the book I co-authored with Aleks Terauds entitled Galapagos of Antarctica – Wild Islands South of New Zealand.

For me, this ‘specialness’ is in the remoteness and isolation, the multitude of different land and seascapes that can be experienced. It is very evident in both its human history and its natural history. It is in the diversity of the plants, birds and marine mammals – including the abundance of some, and the rarity of others. It is in the weather, the storms, and the times of calm, the clouds and rainbows, the wind and the rain, the sun and the snow – all of which embody its ‘specialness’.

What are the main threats to the Auckland Islands, and are we doing enough to protect them?

Rodney: Many of the threats to the islands are interconnected and can be mitigated, but we are not yet doing enough:

1. Introduced predators – Although some introduced mammals have already been removed, pigs, cats and mice remain on Auckland Island. They are having a profoundly detrimental impact on both the flora and fauna. Extensive studies have shown that it would be possible to remove these animals and although it would be expensive, it is essential.
2. Weeds – It is hard to quantify just what impact these are having without ongoing monitoring, so one of our expedition’s goals was to identify what and where weed species are present on Auckland Island. We found some previously unrecorded weed species near known campsites which suggests the current quarantine regime may need adjusting And climate change has the potential to further exacerbate the weed problem.
3. Climate change is an unknown and unpredictable threat that could be better understood if we monitored long-term trends on the islands. However, New Zealand is one of the countries not to maintain a permanent scientific research base on their subantarctic territory (New Zealand’s last one, on Campbell Island, closed in 1995).
4. Management – New Zealand’s subantarctic islands are managed as Nature Reserves by DOC. I feel that much subantarctic cooperation, experience and knowledge that DOC, researchers and others once shared must be regained amongst the current and next generation of managers and policy makers to ensure current decision-making processes are benefitting the islands as they once did.

Alex: I share Rodney’s concerns about pest mammals and weeds on Motu Maha Auckland Island, but so much has already been achieved or remains pristine in the subantarctic, that I look at mainland Aotearoa with far more anxious eyes. Most of the Australasian subantarctic is now predator free, and the flora of those islands has shown a remarkable capacity for speedy recovery after removal of introduced mammals. There will be legacy effects of grazing, but in general, diverse indigenous vegetation cover is prevailing. Some of the pioneering successes include removing sheep, cattle, cats and rats on Campbell Island by 2001, the more recent removal of cats, rabbits, rats and mice from Macquarie Island, and mice from the Antipodes Islands. It would be amazing to remove the mice, cats and pigs from main Auckland Island, and I truly hope that DOC’s Maukahuka Project gets the funding to do so very soon.

Why was this expedition so important to you? What motivated you to volunteer your time and resources to make it happen?

Alex: There are few opportunities nowadays for field-botanists and taxonomists to get the opportunity to undertake fundamental botanical exploration. Rodney gave me this opportunity to take a group of plant nerds to the Motu Maha for several weeks – not as a sideline of a bird-focused trip, or an historical hut restoration trip – but on a botany trip with a sole focus of looking at plants. I have always said ‘yes’ to opportunities to spend more time in the subantarctic; as most plant ecologists would agree, and which happened to be the case when I started assembling a team.

Rodney:  Heritage Expeditions has always aimed to have diverse and high calibre guides and lecturers, and an emphasis on advocacy. One of our early lecturers was passionate botanist David Given who worked on Campbell Island and Antarctica. Sadly, David was diagnosed with cancer, but before he died in 2005, I promised him that I would do my utmost to publish his unfinished manuscript on the subantarctic flora. This expedition was all about honouring that promise by completing some necessary field work on the Auckland Islands.

How does one put together an expedition of this duration to such an isolated, protected place?

Rodney: The main considerations for a subantarctic expedition are transport, staff and permits. Transport is both costly and difficult to organise; some options include DOC, a tourist ship or a private ship. Since we needed to cover a lot of areas, a private ship was really the best option. Once I passed the management of Heritage Expeditions to my sons and had my own expedition yacht MV Strannik built, the expedition became a reality. There was no shortage of volunteer crew to help me crew the vessel. The two I choose, Katie Frame and Steve Abley, were outstanding.

As to research staff, it was Alex’s responsibility to recruit competent, experienced and field-fit botanists who were willing to volunteer their time and expertise (Heidi Meudt being the exception, having the support of Te Papa to be part of the expedition). I also invited a mycologist Toni Atkinson because subantarctic fungi have been so far understudied.

Because the Islands are a Nature Reserve, entry is by permit only, and so the final hurdle was the permits from DOC. We could write a book about the three years it took us to negotiate the permits, suffice to say we did not get everything we asked for and the expedition was compromised to some degree because of this. Two different types of permits were required – one for research and collecting, which proved the most difficult and time-consuming, and another for landing – which was gratefully handled in a timely manner by the Murihiku/Invercargill DOC office.

The remainder of the logistics – including fuel, provisions, equipment – was simple and straightforward compared to arranging the transport, staff, and permits.

Alex:  All up, it took about four years of planning and most of that was hinged on the permitting process. The research goals for the expedition altered as the permit conditions narrowed.

My experience working previously in Invercargill for DOC’s biodiversity monitoring team and working in the subantarctic helped me select the team. The final make-up was a diverse group of Aotearoa botanical experts from a wide range of backgrounds and institutions. Most of us had worked together before, and the team melded almost immediately. I am hugely grateful to all team members who gave up their time to make this expedition succeed.

Most aspects of planning and logistics were fairly intuitive as most of the team were experienced at spending weeks in isolated environments doing field work. The final step was convincing Rodney, when we all turned up on the wharf in Bluff after going through DOC’s quarantine, that we didn’t have too much gear and that we would be able to fit it aboard. We sailed two hours later.

Do tourism, research and conservation all have important roles to play in the subantarctic now and in future?

Rodney: It is critical that tourism, research, and conservation (management) work together toward a successful subantarctic conservation strategy. Tourism’s primary role is to advocate, and the role of research and management is to understand, protect, and enhance them. But tourism can do more. Throughout the world, tourism operators cooperate on citizen science projects and are active conservation partners.

 

This expedition was a textbook example of a hugely successful, self-funded citizen science project, collecting valuable data and creating (peer reviewable) resources for researchers, managers and tourists alike. Such cooperation should be encouraged and utilised more in the subantarctic, because in a world with limited funding for natural science research and conservation, public/private citizen science projects are the future.

Alex: My experience with the tourist industry has proven to me what Rodney has always said, that advocacy is essential. ‘Locking up’ the islands would also lock out the public’s interest in them and dissuade any future public or private resourcing for conservation management.

What is your main hope for New Zealand’s subantarctic islands?

Alex: I am hugely encouraged by the vegetative recovery on Enderby Island, Campbell Island, and Macquarie Island. Species may not be in quite the right places, their abundances may have changed from pre-disturbance times, but most of these legacy effects will likely soften. As far as we know, no plants have gone extinct from the subantarctic, so the potential for a diverse and functional recovery are high.

Rodney: My dream is a no-frills permanent research base established in the New Zealand subantarctic Islands – perhaps Auckland Island or Campbell Island – to monitor long term trends and changes. This should be affiliated to a New Zealand university and provide an opportunity for young researchers to undertake graduate studies and research in Southern Ocean ecology, thus ensuring a pool of informed and qualified subantarctic personnel for the future. It would need a visionary leader, and it could be serviced by expedition yachts (and why not? New Zealand’s three WWII coastwatching bases on Auckland Island and Campbell Island were serviced by such vessels).

Any final thoughts on the Strannik 2023 Auckland Island Expedition?

Rodney: The expedition worked like clockwork largely due to a) the shared clear and unambiguous objectives, b) the prior planning that ensured that everything we needed including information and equipment had been obtained or purchased beforehand, c) a dedicated team of inspirational volunteers who went above and beyond what was expected of them. Finally, the weather played a large part in the overall success.

Alex: We took every opportunity we had on what was likely a once-in-a-lifetime expedition. We enjoyed almost every moment of it (some scrub-bashing might be the exception) in the company of wonderful people who shared our plant-love. We could not have asked for more. I am most grateful to Rodney for sharing not only his ship, but his time, his expertise, and his passion for the Southern Ocean islands.

Acknowledgements

A massive thanks to Rodney Russ and Alex Fergus for taking the time to answer my questions and sharing their subantarctic stories and histories with me. Thanks also to Rodney, Alex, Katie Frame, and Chris Morse for sharing their wonderful photographs and allowing them to be used in this blog.

Blogs in this series

• What’s it like to be on a subantarctic expedition?
• Sea lions, spiders, slugs and slime molds: Curious critters of Auckland Island
• Scientific collections and observations from the Strannik 2023 Auckland Island Expedition
• Plantago aucklandica is a megaherb!
• The megaherbs of Motu Maha Auckland Islands
• The 2023 Strannik Auckland Island Expedition: Our favourite places and plants
• Flora of Motu Maha Auckland Islands
• The 2023 Strannik Auckland Island Expedition: An extraordinary botanical voyage to the subantarctic