 Coast of McKean Island | |
  McKean Island  McKean Island  McKean Island  McKean Island | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 03°35′45″S174°07′21″W / 3.59583°S 174.12250°W /-3.59583; -174.12250 |
| Area | 0.57 km2 (0.22 sq mi) |
| Administrative division | Kanton |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
McKean Island is a small, uninhabited island in thePhoenix Islands, Republic ofKiribati. Its area is 57hectares (140.85 acres).
Kiribati declared thePhoenix Islands Protected Area in 2006, with the park being expanded in 2008. The 164,200-square-mile (425,300-square-kilometer) marine reserve contains eight coral atolls including McKean Island.[1][2]
McKean is roughly oval in shape, and less than one kilometre in diameter. It is ringed by a reef flat, with a beach ridge of coral rock and rubble surrounding the rim, rising to five metres above sea level. The centre of the island is depressed, with a shallow, hypersaline,guano-laced lagoon. Treeless, McKean harbours seven herbaceous species of plants, and the world's largest nesting population of lesserfrigatebird (Fregata ariel) with up to 85,000 birds. 29 other species of birds have been described as visiting the island. Historically, the only mammal was thePolynesian rat, now exterminated, which suggests pre-historic discovery by Polynesians. There is also a species of gecko that inhabits the island.
McKean has no sources of fresh water, and nofreshwater lens.
Sites on the reef averaged 20% Live Coral Cover, with higher abundance of algae (mainly turf and incipient fleshy algae) as compared to Nikumaroro, coral rubble, and some coralline algae. As atNikumaroro, branching and encrusting/submassive growth forms predominated, followed by massive corals.[3] Only a small cover ofHalimeda was observed while carpeting soft corals (Sinularia andLobophytum) occupied 10% of the bottom of the lagoon.[3]
McKean Island was the first of the Phoenix group to be reported and named. It was discovered May 28, 1794, by the British Capt.Henry Barber, of the shipArthur, while en route fromBotany Bay,New South Wales to the northwest coast ofAmerica.[4] Sighting the uninhabited island on 28 May, Captain Barber named it "Drummond's Island", plotting it at 3°40'S, 176°51'W.[5] TheAlbany Sentinel reported that the "small sandy island...is very low and cannot be seen from the deck of a vessel more than five or six miles".[6] It was later renamed 'Arthur Island' and appeared as such in charts of that time. Its coordinates were given as 3°30'S, 176°0'W.[7]
The island was reported and visited by a number of ships in the years following, including the whaleshipJapan in 1830 (under Capt. Shubael Chase), Captain Worth (1832) who mistook it forOnotoa and an unknown whaleship in 1834, who named it "Wigram's Island".[8]
It was renamedMcKean Island and mapped bycommanderCharles Wilkes of theUS Exploring Expedition on August 19, 1840, after a member of his crew. However, Arthur Island remained suspected and "in need of confirmation" until at least 1871, when it was listed inFindlay's Directory, using the charts of cartographerJohn Arrowsmith.[7]
McKean was claimed by the U.S. in March 1859, under the AmericanGuano Act of 1856. C.A. Williams promoted the Phoenix Guano Company ofNew London, Connecticut, to exploit the deposit ofguano.Alfred Restieaux was foreman of the excavation operation in 1867.[9] Guano was actively dug and exported from 1859 to 1870.[10] The island was rarely visited after that time.
McKean was later included in the BritishGilbert and Ellice Islands colony. The U.K. resigned its claims on the island when it granted independence to the Republic of Kiribati, and the U.S. resigned its claims to Kiribati in theTreaty of Tarawa.
An 1859 article fromThe Sailor's Magazine reports
An 1860 report published byConnecticut State Agricultural Society says
The island was declared a bird sanctuary in June 1938, and has been a protected area ever since as theMcKean Island Wildlife Sanctuary.[13]In addition to natural history expeditions, it was visited in October 1989 byTIGHAR when it was surveyed as a possible landing site ofAmelia Earhart.[14]
In 2008, Kiribati proclaimed it to be part of thePhoenix Islands Protected Area, the largestmarine protected area in the world. In 2010, thePhoenix Islands Protected Area became the world's largestUNESCOWorld Heritage Site. In 2002 the fishing trawlerChance wrecked on McKean and released theAsian rats onto the island, which decimated the native populations ofstorm petrels, blue noddies, and other species ofpetrels andshearwaters. In 2008NZAID funded the rat eradication of McKean Island, which in late 2009 was demonstrated to have been successful.[15][16]
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