That action created Refuge rules “To establish a marine
refuge in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the long-term conservation and
protection of the unique coral reef ecosystems and the related marine resources
and species, to ensure their conservation and natural character for present and
future generations.“ Fishing and other
extraction is prohibited.
Let’s step back.
Kānemilohaʻi is the first atoll to the northwest of the
main Hawaiian Islands; it’s also the midpoint of the Hawaiian Islands archipelago
and the largest coral reef area in Hawai‘i.
This low, flat area is where Pele is said to have left one
of her older brothers, Kānemilohaʻi, as a guardian during her first journey to
Hawai‘i from Kahiki (Tahiti.) Pele continued down the archipelago until finally
settling in Kīlauea, Hawai‘i Island, where she is said to reside today. (Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument)
It is
located 550-miles northwest of Honolulu.
The day I went there, it took 3 ½ hours to fly there, we were on the
ground for 3 ½ hours, with the same 3 ½ hour return flight (we left at dark and
arrived back at dark.)
We were unexpectedly greeted by
Jean-Michel Cousteau; he was on the island during his filming of "Voyage
to Kure." (I brought snorkel gear,
but passed on that to take advantage of having extra time to speak with
Jean-Michel.)
The
crescent-shaped atoll of small islands is 18-miles in diameter. The
lagoon is unusual in that it contains two exposed volcanic pinnacles
representing the last remainders of the high island from which the atoll was
derived.
The largest pinnacle, La Perouse Pinnacle
(rising vertically about 120-feet above sea level, 7-miles south of Tern Island
and is named after Jean Francois de Galaup, Compte de La Pérouse who sailed
there in 1786) is a rock outcrop in the center of the atoll. It is reportedly the oldest and most remote
volcanic rock in the Hawaiian chain.
Making up the rest of the atoll are nine
low, sandy islets. The sand islets are
small, shift position, and disappear and reappear. The “main” island is referred to today
as Tern Island. Terns are birds … there
are a lot of terns on Tern Island.
The islands first played a part in World War II when they
were included in Japanese plans for refueling seaplanes from submarines in the
sheltered waters of the atoll.
Such a refueling was successfully carried out in 1942 by two
Imperial Japanese Navy flying boats that were refueled by a submarine. The
seaplanes then mounted a bombing raid on Pearl Harbor, although they were
thwarted from hitting their targets by inclement weather.
Then, in 1942, the 5th Seabee Battalion arrived on Tern
Island to begin construction of a US airfield. The island was only a few
hundred feet long, yet was expanded by dredged coral to create a 3,100-foot by
275-foot runway and a ramp area sufficient for 24-single engine aircraft
(expanding the Island’s area to 27-acres, of which 20 were taken up by the
airfield.) (Tern Island resembles an
aircraft carrier.)
A station was commissioned in 1943 as an auxiliary of Pearl
Harbor and also served as an emergency landing strip and refueling stop for
fighter squadrons transiting between Honolulu and Midway. Quonset Huts were erected to serve as
housing; the typical complement was 118-men, who rotated from Pearl Harbor on a
three month tour.
In February 1949, the Navy abandoned the airstrip and
facilities to the Territory of Hawaiʻi. In January 1952, the Coast Guard to build a
LORAN navigation beacon tower on Tern Island, along with a 20-man support
facility. (LORAN (LOng RAnge Navigation)
is a radio navigation system enabling ships and aircraft to determine their
position and speed.) The Coast Guard
installation continued until 1979.
Tern Island also played an interesting role during the early
days of space flight. The Pacific Missile Range had a portable tracking station
located at one end of the island that helped track the US Discoverer spacecraft,
as well as the Soviet Union's space efforts, including their first manned
mission (April 12. 1961.)
When the tracking installation obtained data from a
particularly important track, the data tapes would be put in a fiberglass
canister, attached by a nylon rope to a grappling hook at the top of a pole
erected on the runway. This would be snagged by a passing C-130 in mid-air
above the runway.
In recent years, Tern Island became part of the Hawaiian
& Pacific Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. A ranger station occupies the former Coast
Guard buildings and is occupied by small groups of researchers. The runway continues to be used for
occasional personnel transfer & supply flights.
These islets provide important habitat for
the world’s largest breeding colony of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal and
also provide nesting sites for 90-percent of the threatened green turtle
population breeding in the Hawaiian Archipelago.
On a tour around Tern Island we saw monk
seals and turtles resting on the sandy shore, as well markings in the sand of a
turtle who laid her eggs the night before.
When asked what I thought after my visit
there, I simply say, “This place is different.”
Puzzled, many expect to hear “fantastic,”
“pristine” and the range of other expressions that note the abundance and
diversity of resources there. Compared
to what we see in the main Hawaiian Islands, Tern and the other islands, reefs
and atolls to the northwest are “different.”
In helping people understand what I mean, I
have referred to my recommendation to impose stringent protective measures and
prohibit extraction as the responsibility we share to provide future
generations a chance to see what it looks like in a place in the world where
you don’t take something.
The
BLNR’s action started a process where several others followed with similar stringent
protective measures.
Kānemilohaʻi is now part of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National
Monument, a State and Federal (State of Hawaiʻi, Department of the Interior’s
US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration) co-managed marine conservation area. The monument encompasses nearly
140,000-square miles of the Pacific Ocean - an area larger than all the
country's national parks combined.
On July 30, 2010, Papahānaumokuākea was inscribed as a
mixed (natural and cultural) World Heritage Site by the delegates to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO.) It is the
first mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States and the second
World Heritage Site in Hawaiʻi (Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park was inscribed
in 1987.)
Oh, the modern name for Kānemilohaʻi?
On November 6, 1786, French explorer La Pérouse, aboard his
frigate, the Broussole, accompanied by the Astrolabe, was sailing westward from
Monterey to Macao. In the wee morning
hours, men on both ships sighted breakers directly ahead; both boats were
immediately brought about and avoided the breakers.
At daybreak, they sighted the pinnacle and later explored the
southeastern half of the atoll. Before
leaving, he named his new discovery Basse des Fregates Frangaises, or Shoal of
the French Frigates. In July 1954, the
US Board of Geographic Names adopted the name, French Frigate Shoals. (Amerson) (Lots of information from Management Plan, hawaii-gov
and Abandoned Airfields)
The image shows some of the reefs and islands of Kānemilohaʻi
(French Frigate Shoals.) In addition, I
have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section
on my Facebook and Google+ pages.
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