Marine life may see unexpected benefit from green iguana cull

The Department of Environment’s large-scale cull is making invasive green iguanas harder to find, and may also be having an unexpected positive impact on marine life as well.

DOE Chief Conservation Officer Mark Orr said he believes high participation in the cull could be easing pressure on seasonal marine resources like conch and lobster.

He said some who may have flouted catch limits for conch, lobster, and other marine life in past years have instead diverted their attention to the catching these invasive reptiles.

“We’ve got a lot less repeat offenders on the water, so whether they would’ve been taking this season illegally or not, we can’t say, but there is definitely less persons out on the North Sound on a daily basis due to the iguana cull going on,” said Mr. Orr.

More than 460 individuals, teams, and companies are registered for the green iguana cull, including 115 new registrants added last month.

At last check, just shy of 384,000 iguanas have been culled in almost 15 weeks of the programme.