Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 2. Human Activities
Draft 1 March 2007
communities. They had schools, hospitals, wireless communication, electd local
governments, and co-operative societies (Maude 1953b). The scheme was considered a
success (Maude 1953b).
By the end of 1947, there were more than 1,000 colonists in the Phoenix Islands (Maude
1953b; 984 in the Phoenix Islands, not including the Americans on Abariringa (Canton)
according to Pusinelli 1948; see also Robson 1956).
By 1952, the Phoenix [Settlement] Scheme was officially declared a failure (Schultz and
Tenten 1979). The primary reason for the project’s failure was the poor water quality or lack
of freshwater on the Phoenix Islands.
There were 1,200 people living in the Phoenix Islands according to Halstead and Bunker
(1954).
By 1955, there were more than 1,300 Catholics in the Phoenix Islands (Garrett 1997). Two
of the Phoenix Islands were under the Roman Catholic diocese that also covered Nauru,
Tuvalu, and the Gilbert islands (Bunge and Cooke 1984). The specific Phoenix Islands
covered were not identified.
Eggs of the grey-backed tern which breed in the thousands in the Phoenix Islands were eaten
during times of food shortage (Child 1960).
After 1963, the Phoenix Islands experienced severe droughts and had been evacuated (Cowell
1966). The droughts forced the colonial government to abandon the Phoenix Islands
Settlement Scheme (Knudson 1977; see also Teiwaki 1988; Bunge and Cooke 1984; repeated
droughts according to Mueller-Dombois and Fosberg 1993).
For two of the three Phoenix Islands with settlers, abandonment was more for administrative
and financial reasons than because of the viability of otherwise of the settlements themselves
(MacDonald 1982).
In 1963, Grattan (1963a) reported that no one lived in the Phoenix group. By 1964, all the
settlers in the Phoenix Islands had left (Levy 1996).
In March 1965, the U.S. reaffirmed its claim to all eight of the Phoenix Islands (Maude
1968).
From 1968 to 1978, the British Government lease four of the Phoenix Islands to the U.S.
(Teiwaki 1988). The rent was $10,000 annually.
In 1979, the Treaty of Friendship was signed between the United States and the Government
of Kiribati (Trease 1993). This Treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate on June 21, 1982. In
the Treaty, the U.S. acknowledged Kiribati sovereignty over the Phoenix Islands in return the
Government of Kiribati agreed to consult with the U.S. Government should it wish to allow
third party access to the islands for military purposes (Abariringa (Canton) only according to
Ogashiwa 1991).
The Treaty also gave the U.S. Government the right to construct facilities, after consultations
with the Government of Kiribati on Abariringa (Canton), Enderbury, and Orona (Hull)
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