The ‘potentially dire’ environmental dangers of shipwrecks to a Pembrokeshire island - which is Wales' only marine conservation zone - have been highlighted this week.

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW), the guardian of Skomer Island, has been on high alert since the early hours of Wednesday when a local fishing vessel ran aground on rocks on the south coast of the island.

The four fishermen, who were forced to abandon ship for their life raft, were rescued by Angle RNLI lifeboat following their Mayday call.

The RNLI has praised the crew for carrying the correct safety equipment and Milford Haven Coastguard for their 'swift, excellent coordination of multiple assets in what could have been a potentially fatal incident'.

The stricken 16m vessel had 3,000 litres of fuel on board which was extracted before the craft was removed and re-floated yesterday, Thursday December 8.

Fortunately no pollution is thought to have been caused, but there are now fears that rats could have been aboard the boat and had they jumped ship onto the island they could threaten the population of the internationally-important seabird breeding colony.

Neighbouring island, Ramsey, where rats arrived via shipwrecks and decimated the puffin population from the island, is testament to the damage that can be caused.

WTSWW staff are now undertaking all possible measures to ensure that Tuesday’s wreckage does not have similar consequences.

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Lisa Morgan, the trust's head of islands and marine, said that now that the fishing vessel has been removed with no apparent pollution caused, the greater concern is the possibility of rats being on shore.

“Rats could have a devastating impact on the burrow-nesting birds on Skomer Island if a population were to become established," she said.

"Skomer is unmanned over winter, but our staff are preparing to travel back to the Island to deal with this emergency.

“We will also be liaising with the local authorities and the Marine and Coastguard Agency to understand how this could have happened, despite the calm conditions that night.”

WTSWW’s island team is now undertaking what a spokesperson described as ‘the strictest of protocols’ to reduce the possibility of rat infestation from the wreck.

This means setting traps every 50m within a 500m radius of the wreck and checking them twice a day for five days, whilst also undertaking surveillance from trail cameras, and the pre-established ‘surveillance stations’.

She added: "With assistance from The Marine Conservation Zone, HM Coastguard, Pembrokeshire County Council, and Biosecurity For Life, WTSWW hope to ensure that the impacts of Tuesday’s shipwreck are behind them by the time the first ground-nesting seabirds, the Manx Shearwaters, arrive in March.

"Biosecurity is an essential part of conservation and a risk which cannot be taken with Skomer’s significant seabird populations.”

Western Telegraph: A puffin in its burrow on Skomer Island.A puffin in its burrow on Skomer Island. (Image: Joshua Copping)