It is the principal breeding site of the threatened nominate subspecies of the Gould's petrel and, with the nearby Boondelbah Island where there is also a small colony, has been classified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area.

[4] The removal of the sheltering understorey vegetation by rabbits led to increased exposure of the ground-nesting petrels and predation by pied currawongs and Australian ravens.

It also led to increased mortality following entanglement of the birds with the sticky fruits of the bird-lime trees which fell to the ground rather than being caught in the understorey.

[4] Remedial management from 1992 onwards has included the eradication of rabbits on the island in 1997/98 and the removal of bird-lime trees from petrel nesting habitat, as well as the culling of currawongs and ravens.

After a few pairs of Gould's petrels were discovered on Boondelbah Island in 1995, 1.5 km (1 mi) to the south, a translocation program was implemented to supplement the new breeding site with fledglings from Cabbage Tree.