Coconut Island
| Coconut Island | |
|---|---|
.png) Moian Reef and Newman Reef . |
|
| Waters | Pacific Ocean |
| Geographical location | 10 ° 3 '2 " S , 143 ° 4' 8" O |
| length | 1.8 km |
| width | 300 m |
| surface | 37 ha |
| Highest elevation | 1 m |
| Residents | 166 (2006) 449 inhabitants / km² |
 Coconut Island roughly in the center of the picture. |
|
Coconut Island , called Poruma by the locals , is a small island in the middle of Torres Strait , a strait between Australia in the south and Papua New Guinea in the north. The island is one of the Torres Strait Islands .
Administratively, Coconut Island is part of the Central Islands , an island region in the Torres Shire administrative district of the Australian state of Queensland .
The island, which is only about 37 hectares in size and barely rising above sea level, is located in the north of a 7.26 km² reef platform, which many sea turtles use to lay their eggs. 800 meters east is Moian Reef with an area of 1.68 km² and 6.7 km east is Newman Reef with an area of 1.55 km². On Moian Reef is the 1.6 hectare, vegetation-free island Moian Cay . Newman Reef also has a small island with no vegetation.
The island is showing a decreasing population. The 2006 census found only 166 residents, up from 180 five years earlier. The inhabitants are Melanesians , whose main source of income today is tourism.