The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will fly emergency supplies to the world heritage-listed Lord Howe Island after the discovery of a rat on a supply ship left the vessel grounded in Port Macquarie.
Supplies have been running low on the island after the rodent was spotted on a surveillance camera at the supply ship's Port Macquarie base last week.
The detection was made just before the ship was due to sail, forcing it to be unloaded and enter a seven-day biosecurity quarantine period, with a low tide meaning it cannot sail again until next week.
In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Planning and Environment said the RAAF had made a transport plane available to fly essential supplies of household gas to meet the immediate needs of the island until the supply ship, the MV Island Trader, arrived next week.
"Flour for the bakery is also being freighted on the flight along with other perishables," the statement said.
The department said the RAAF C130 transport was due to arrive on the island on Friday.
'Rare event'
The transport of domestic supplies to Lord Howe Island is managed by a contractor, Birdon, which is required to meet high standards of biosecurity to prevent rats and other biosecurity risks entering the island.
The NSW government has been successfully implementing a rodent control program on the island since 2019 to protect the unique wildlife and biodiversity on the world heritage-listed holiday destination.
"This is a very rare event and not one in recent memory," Birdon's general manager for maritime, Sarah Yuen, said.
Local cafe operator Stephen Sia said some businesses were flying their own supplies in by plane at great cost while others had decided to close or reduce capacity to avoid the cost.
"Today is the last day the local bakery's going to bake because they just can't fly in the flour — it's going to be at great cost," Mr Sia said.
The island has just opened for the start of the busy tourist season Mr Sia said they were "struggling a little bit with places to eat".
"This is a peak time ... so not everybody will be able to get into the restaurants because the capacity of the restaurants is already at its maximum," he said.
"If a couple of restaurants decided to close then there will be no room for some visitors who want to book into the restaurant."
Mr Sia has decided to stay open and control the number of tourists or customers because "there's limited food".
"I want to be able to control the supplies that will last until the next ship," he said.
"We'll try to get as much as we can from local growers.
"I think everyone understands the limitations of the menu as well as the price hike."
'Just one rat'
Fresh food was not the only thing affected by the supply ship's delay.
"We have the situation where the tradesmen are here and the supplies, materials are not here. If you go to the supermarket most of the perishables are finished," Mr Sia said.
Ms Yuen said it was an unfortunate situation.
"We do understand that there is an inconvenience to the local residents and we've been working with Lord Howe Island Board to try and find the best solution for them to get those perishable items in the meantime," she said.
"It's a very unfortunate disruption to the island and obviously we're seeking to lessen those impacts as much as we can."
The DPE statement said weather, sea conditions and, most recently, flooding at Port Macquarie had all disrupted the MV Island Trader's schedule in the past.
"This is just one rat and there's been no further rats detected," Ms Yuen said.
The MV Island Trader is scheduled to depart Port Macquarie on September 20.
