24. How could fish and the marine ecosystem be impacted, and what precautions would be taken to protect them from primary or secondary exposure to the bait from a mouse eradication?

Only the land surface of the islands, and not the marine environment, would be targeted for bait application. Measures to reduce the risk of bait entering the marine environment would include GPS precision guided flight paths and the use of a precision application bait bucket. However, a small amount of bait could still inadvertently enter the marine environment immediately adjacent to the islands. Because bait pellets would disintegrate quickly upon entering the water and the rodenticide is not soluble in water, risks to marine wildlife and water quality would be very low, based on other eradication projects. Very few of the fish and marine invertebrate species living in the waters around the Farallon Islands would be expected to consume an encountered bait pellet. Studies have shown that most invertebrates are not impacted by rodenticides such as brodifacoum. Given these factors, the risk of exposure to rodenticide by marine fish and invertebrates would be limited to a small number of individuals, with no significant impacts to populations.

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