Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The site comprises the main island of Saint Paul and the adjacent islet of La Roche Quille. Saint Paul is triangular in shape and encloses a well-preserved, roughly circular crater open to the sea on its north-eastern side. The crater’s walls and the north-eastern coastline consist of tall cliffs, some of which are over 200 m high. La Roche Quille, situated close to the opening of the caldera, is no more than a large, steep-sided rock covered mostly in herbaceous vegetation. It was, until recently, the only part of the site free of rats, mice and rabbits. There is no human presence on the island.
See Box for key species. Some 15 species breed, including a colony of
Eudyptes chrysocome moseleyi (c.9,000 pairs),
Phoebetria fusca (21 pairs in 1996) and
Diomedea chlororynchos (a few pairs). The race
macgillivrayi of
Pachyptila salvini is endemic to La Roche Quille where only some 100–200 pairs bred in 1996. Given its subtropical location, Saint Paul has a distinct avifauna different from that of the French subantarctic islands. Thus, several species breed which are rare in the region or at these latitudes;
Morus serrator (1–3 pairs),
Pachyptila turtur (10–20 pairs),
Pterodroma macroptera (50 pairs),
Puffinus assimilis (25 pairs),
P. carneipes (489 pairs),
Oceanites oceanicus (10–50 pairs) and
Sterna fuscata (one pair). Most species breed only on La Roche Quille. However, rats and rabbits have recently been eradicated from Saint Paul and hence its potential ornithological significance has grown considerably. For instance, there is evidence that
Pterodroma macroptera and
Pachyptila salvini macgillivrayi have begun recolonizing.
Non-bird biodiversity: A large population of the fur seal Arctocephalus tropicalis (365 pups in 1993) breeds. Four species of insect and three species of vascular plant are endemic to Saint Paul.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
La Roche Quille is a French Antarctic National Park. Access to Saint Paul is also restricted but, in practice, not controlled as there is no permanent human presence. The site has been proposed as a Nature Reserve. Between 1995–1999, an ecological rehabilitation programme funded by TAAF and the European Environmental Fund successfully eradicated rats and rabbits from Saint Paul which, it is hoped, will now be recolonized by birds from La Roche Quille, currently at carrying capacity.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Île Saint Paul (French Southern Territories). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/île-saint-paul-iba-french-southern-territories on 23/11/2024.
