Pearl and Hermes Atoll

Pearl and Hermes Atoll
Satellite image of the Pearl and Hermes Atoll
Waters	Pacific Ocean
archipelago	Northwest Hawaii Islands
Geographical location	27 ° 48 ′  N , 175 ° 51 ′  W Coordinates: 27 ° 48 ′  N , 175 ° 51 ′  W
Number of islands	8/9
Main island	Southeast Island
length	35 km
width	19.5 km
Land area	36 ha
total area	320 km²
Residents	uninhabited
Map of the Pearl and Hermes Atoll

The Pearl and Hermes Atoll ( Hawaiian : Holoikauaua , formerly also known as Pearl and Hermes Reef in English ) is an uninhabited atoll in the Pacific Ocean , about 2000 km from Honolulu . It belongs geographically to the Northwest Hawai'i Islands and politically to the US state of Hawaii .

geography

The oval atoll is about 29 km long and 17 km wide and is fringed by an open reef in the southwest . The atoll includes six small, sandy and flat islands with a total land area of ​​only 0.36 km². The closest islands are Midway to the west and Lisianski to the southeast.

The total area of ​​the atoll is 320 km². The lagoon is up to 26 meters deep.

Depending on whether the current double island Seal-Kittery is considered as one or two islands, one counts eight or nine islands in the atoll.

Four islands have stable vegetation. These are Grass Island, North Island, Seal Island, and Southeast Island. Little North Island has grown over the past few decades. Kittery Island is occasionally flooded and, despite its size, has no vegetation. The other three islands, Bird Island, Planetree Island and Sand Island are little more than sandbars . The island Planetree Iceland (Bird between Iceland and South East Iceland) has no official name, by the US Board of Geographic Names is approved. The island was named after this ship in March 1964 by the crew of the Coast Guard buoy layer.

Islands

The islands of the atoll are listed clockwise, starting in the northwest:

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Motu	Census block	Area ( m² )	Coordinates
North Island	1022	72540	27 ° 56 ′  N , 175 ° 44 ′  W.
Little North Island	1021	31676	27 ° 55 ′  N , 175 ° 45 ′  W.
Southeast Island	1015	130301	27 ° 47 ′  N , 175 ° 49 ′  W.
Planetree Island 1)	-	3600	27 ° 48 ′  N , 175 ° 50 ′  W.
Bird Island	1016	7305	27 ° 48 ′  N , 175 ° 51 ′  W.
Sand Island	1017	11475	27 ° 48 ′  N , 175 ° 51 ′  W.
Grass Island	1018	49302	27 ° 46 ′  N , 175 ° 54 ′  W.
Seal Island 2)	1019	22033	27 ° 46 ′  N , 175 ° 57 ′  W.
Kittery Island 2)	1020	35343	27 ° 46 ′  N , 175 ° 57 ′  W.

¹⁾ Planetree Island does not appear on the census maps. In 1974 an expansion of 100 by 500 feet was reported. At the same time, however, it is said that the island would be flooded during high water. Strictly speaking, this would no longer be an island, but a sandbank , and its area would not count as land.
²⁾ Seal-Kittery Island is currently a twin island .

history

The atoll was discovered on April 26, 1822, when the two English whaling ships Pearl and Hermes stranded on the reef. In contrast to other islands in the northwest of Hawaii it was already in 1854 by the Hawaiian King Kamehameha III. annexed. Because of its small land area, the atoll was of little interest until 1927, when Captain William Greig Anderson discovered large banks of pearl oysters ( Pinctada margaritifera ). Almost all of the stocks were eliminated within just a few years, so that pearl fishing was declared illegal in 1929.

fauna and Flora

The Pearl and Hermes Atoll is located within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and is the island chain's richest area in fish species. Mentioned are the Galapagos shark ( Carcharhinus galapagensis ), sandbar shark ( Carcharhinus plumbeus ), Japanese angelfish ( Centropyge interrupta ) and parrotfish (Scarinae). 33 species of hard corals ( Scleractinia ) can be found in the over 770 km² reef .

Web links

Commons : Pearl and Hermes Atoll  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Census Block Map (PDF; 84 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ United States Census Bureau, Pearl and Hermes Atoll: Blocks 1015-1022, Census Tract 114.98, Honolulu County, Hawaii (English)
2. ^ Atoll Area, Depth and Rainfall
3. ↑ ^{a b} A. Binion Amerson jr .: The Natural History of Pearl and Hermes Reef, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 174, 1974 , page 3
4. ↑ Jane's Oceania Page - Pearl and Hermes (English)
5. ↑ NWHI Multi-Agency Education Project: about Pearl and Hermes Atoll ( Memento of the original dated December 29, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)