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Home of The Greater ShearwaterTristan da Cunha and Gough Island |
The majority of Greater Shearwaters breed on the volcanic islands
of Inaccessible, Nightingale, and Gough Island of the Tristan da Cunha group.
These tiny islands appear as mere specks close to the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean, east and south of Cape Town South Africa. See the map at the bottom. All
are administered as part of the British dependency of Saint Helena. The
continued health of the world population of Greater Shearwaters is dependent
upon these islands.
Tristan
The Tristan da Cunha group
consists of five islands: Inaccessible, Nigtingale, Middle, Stoltenhoff, and
Tristan. Northernmost Tristan is the largest (98 sq km/38 sq mi) and only
permanently inhabited island (population 1988, 313). It is without a sea port
and all deliveries to the island must be ferried to a small beach by row boat.
While I could find no specific reference it seems the settlement must be
subsidized by the British Government since there is a Church of England pastor
and a physician on a rotating basis.
The islanders live without
electricity subsisting primarily on potatoes, milk from cattle, fish from the
sea, wool from domestic sheep. On periodic trips to Nightingale Island they
gather both seabirds (presumably Greater Shearwaters) and seabird eggs. They
also mine guano produced by the large seabird colony to fertilize their potato
fields on Tristan. The only wood comes from shipwrecks and I am not sure what
they use as a source of energy. In the 1950's the island built a processing
plant for spiny lobster which is caught by fishing vessels from South Africa in
the waters around the island. This brought jobs and some cash to the island.
The islanders also obtain cash from the sale of postage stamps and handcrafts.
Tristan Island is a dormant volcano with a lake in the top of the cone
which provides fresh water. In October of 1961 the volcano erupted from a
flanking vent next to the settlement and forced the evacuation of the entire
population to Britain where they lived unhappily for a year. The eruption
eventually destroyed the processing plant. The National Geographic documented
the evacuation (May 1962) and subsequent return to the island (January 1964).
The January article contains this interesting paragraph .
| "Early Saturday morning, three young men hied themselves to the mountain to hunt mollymocks or yellow-nosed albatrosses. They returned with 36 of the outsized birds, whose wingspread may span seven feet or more. Now every family in the settlement could celebrate Easter Sunday with the traditional Tristan dinner." |
Some cruise ships visit Tristan da Cunha primarily because of the large seabird population. The MS Explorer the ship on which VENT runs their popular Antarctica Trip has an annual trip which starts in the Canary Islands and ends at the Falkland Islands. Unfortunately in the winter of 2008, the MS Explorer sunk which on a visit to Antartica. All passengers and crew were saved.
Threats
The growth of the human population on Tristan and the possability that the volcano on the main island will erupt again both present threats. The Tristan population will in time outstrip the resources on the island. Should the volcano on Tristan erupt again, the Tristans will be most reluctant to abandon the island a second time given their previous experience. Either of these problems could induce the people to establish a settlement on either Nightingale or Inaccessible where the impact on the Greater Shearwater would be very serious.
Gough Island
Gough Island (also called Diego Alvarez) has no permanent human population and was declared a Wildlife Reserve in 1976 and a World Heritage Site in 1995. The island covers 65 sq km. and presents steep cliffs on all sides. It receives plenty of rainfall each year and is carpeted with mosses, tussock grasses and ferns. It is visited by British research vessels. Other birds on the island are Rockhopper Penguins and Wandering Albatross. Elephant Seals also breed on the island. This island seems to be better protected and fortunately is home to a large population of Greater Shearwater.
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Page Author: Emmalee Tarry- Map(below)
