The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands - Pew Environment ...

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0 km 100 0 nautical miles 100 ©2012 Pew Environment Group; used by permission Oeno Island Pitcairn Island 130° * * Bounty Seamount 40 Mile Reef (Adams Seamount) Henderson Island * Ducie Island Crough Seamounts Submarine volcano (seamount) Pacific Ocean * * 200-nautical-mile limit / EEZ boundary Pitcairn Exclusive Economic Zone / 120° 20° Tropic of Capricorn
Executive summary The extent of the Pitcairn Islands’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which defines the geographic extent of this report. Introduction The Pitcairn Islands are a group of four near-pristine small islands which can claim to be some of the most remote islands in the world. They are situated between latitudes 23° and 26° south and longitudes 124° and 131° west and located in the crystal-clear waters of the central South Pacific, about 2,200 km south-east of Tahiti and 2,100 km west of Easter Island. The group comprises: l Pitcairn Island, a high volcanic island of 450 ha with lava cliffs and rugged hills rising to a peak at 347 m; it is the only inhabited island, with a population of around 60 as of 2012; l Henderson (200 km east-north-east of Pitcairn) is the largest island in the group with an area of 4,310 ha. It is a raised fossilised coral atoll which rises to 33 m. It is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its unique natural history and ecological intactness, and it has been described as “a South Pacific conservation jewel” 1 ; l Ducie (472 km east of Pitcairn), the most southerly coral atoll in the world, consists of a central lagoon surrounded by four islets covering an area of 70 ha; l Oeno (120 km north-west of Pitcairn) is a low coral atoll of 65 ha comprising a central low-lying island surrounded by a shallow lagoon and a fringing reef (diameter approximately 4 km). Together, all four islands and their surrounding waters out to the 200 nautical mile limit – also known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – span a vast area of ocean of about 836,000 km 2 , more than three times the size of the UK. A brief history It is believed that Pitcairn and Henderson were first colonised by Polynesians in about AD 900 and their The extent of the Indo-West Pacific biogeographic province (shown in dark blue). (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Indo-Pacific_ biogeographic_region_map-en.png) occupation lasted until about 1450 2 . In 1606, Fernández de Quirós was the first European to discover Henderson Island (by now uninhabited) and Ducie Island. British interest in the islands (and in Pitcairn in particular) began more than a century-and-a-half later in 1767 when HMS Swallow, under the command of Captain Philip Carteret, encountered Pitcairn and mistakenly plotted its position 188 nautical miles west of its actual location. This mistake, however, was to be of great benefit to the island’s next inhabitants, the mutineers from HMS Bounty, who were looking for a safe island hideaway in 1790, and remained undiscovered there for 18 years. Pitcairn Island officially became a British dependency on 29 November 1838. The other three islands (Henderson, Oeno and Ducie) were annexed by Great Britain in 1902 and were included in the dependency in 1938. The Pitcairn Islands remain the only UK Overseas Territory in the Pacific. Biogeography The Pitcairn Islands are located at the south-eastern extremity of the Indo-West Pacific biogeographic province, resulting in a number of barriers to the establishment of species. l Prevailing winds and currents are dominantly from the east in the central South Pacific, with the Islands lying upwind and upstream of all Indo-Pacific source areas. l The Islands lie south of the Tropic of Capricorn (23°26’S), with relatively cool waters and climates imposing further barriers to the establishment of tropical species. Studies of groups as diverse as corals, reef fishes, vascular plants and land birds support the arguments that colonisation has been from the biologically rich source areas to the west on the margins of South-East Asia, The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands i
Page 1 and 2: The Marine Environment of the Pitca
Page 3: First published in Great Britain in
Page 7 and 8: No. of marine species in major taxo
Page 9 and 10: 1767 and named it Pitcairn’s Isla
Page 11 and 12: 6 Taxon Pitcairn is the only island
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Page 17 and 18: TURTLES Two species of turtles are
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Robert Irving Terry Dawson Robert i
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