Rawaki Island

Rawaki Island is one of the Phoenix Islands in the Republic of Kiribati, also known by its previous name of Phoenix Island. It is a small, uninhabited atoll, approximately 1.2 by 0.8 km in size and 65 hec. in area, with a shallow, brackish central lagoon that does not communicate with the ocean. It is located at coord|3.721|S|170.712|W. It currently forms part of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, the largest marine protected area in the world.

Flora and Fauna

Rawaki has been described as being ham or pear shaped.http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_phoenix_group/phoenix.htm.] Its highest elevation is approximately six meters. It is treeless, being covered mostly with herbs and grasses, and thus forms an excellent landing and nesting site for migratory seabirds and turtles. Unlike many other Pacific islands, no rats were noted on Rawaki during a 1924 scientific expedition. A colony of feral rabbits has existed on Rawaki for several years, though doing no apparent damage to the vegetation, as often happens on other islands--see Laysan Island, for instance. Recently, a scienfitic expedition to eradicate the rabbits and other invasive species on Rawaki was announced. [http://www.phoenixislands.org/index.php.]

Rawaki has its own species of seabird tick, "Ixodes amersoni". [cite journal |last=Kohls |first=GM |title=A new sea bird tick, "Ixodes amersoni", from Phoenix Island PMID 5941563 |journal=Journal of Medical Entomology |year=1966 |issue=Apr:3(1) |pages=38-40] It also boasts varous species of flies, moths, leafhoppers, green bugs, and spiders. Sea birds consist of sooty, grey, and white terns; frigates, petrels and shearwaters; boobies, migratory plover and curlew.

A color photo of Rawaki Island may be seen at [http://www.phoenixislands.org. Look under "The MPA", subheading "The Islands".] .

History

Unlike some other islands in the Phoenix group, Rawaki does not seem to have ever been inhabited by prehistoric Polynesians or other Pacific islanders.

Rawaki was discovered on 23rd February 1824 by Capt. John Palmer from the London whaling ship Phoenix. It was once the site of an enterprise to remove guano, but was abandoned in August, 1871 (SW Boggs, Geographical Review, 1938). It was claimed for the U.S. under the Guano Islands Act on March 14, 1859 by C.A. Williams and Company, later the Phoenix Guano Company. [Edwin H. Bryan, Jr. American Polynesia and the Hawaiian Chain. Honolulu, Hawaii: Tongg Publishing Company, 1942 page 55] This claim was later relinquished in the Treaty of Tarawa. On June 29, 1889, a British protectorate was declared, and the island surveyed. [Bryan, 1942] On March 18, 1937, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It later became part of Kiribati.

In 2008, Rawaki was placed, together with the other Phoenix Islands, within the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, the largest marine protected area in the world.

References

* Dalton, William: The Dalton journal : two whaling voyages to the South seas, 1823 - 1829 / ed. by Niel Gunson; [Sydney] : National Library of Australia, 1990 ISBN 0-642-10505-7

External links

* [http://oceandots.com/pacific/rawaki/rawaki.htm Oceandots page with satellite photo]