Lisianski Island (Hawaiian: Papa‘āpoho) is one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, with a land area of and a maximum elevation of above sea level. It is a low, flat sand and coral island about northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii.
Administration
Politically, Lisianski Island is part of the City and County of Honolulu
[Bryan, p. 10.] in the State of Hawaii. However, as part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, it is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It has no resident human population.
Geology and topography
Lisianski Island is made of
limestone that caps the submerged summit of an extinct
shield volcano that was active about 20 million years ago. Lisianski Island is undergoing the slow process of
erosion, and features a depression between two tall sand dunes, that is thought to once have been a
lagoon like the one on
Laysan, its nearest neighbor. For this reason, the island's selected Hawaiian name,
Papa‘āpoho, means "island with a depression". Over three-quarters of the
that nest in
Hawaii nest here. Recent discovery of
on the island indicate that
Laysan duck populations once occurred on the island, possibly inhabiting the former lagoon.
History
Lisianski Island is named after
Yuri Lisyansky, a
Russian Empire explorer and an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy. Lisyansky was the commanding officer of the Russian-American Company's merchant
sloop Neva, which was on an exploration mission as part of the first Russian circumnavigation of the world when she ran aground on the island in 1805. Lisyansky reported the island to be of little interest, except insofar as its surrounding reefs and shoals posed a threat to passing vessels.
King Kamehameha IV claimed the island for the Kingdom of Hawaii on 10 May 1857. In 1890, the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company acquired a twenty-year lease on the island from the Kingdom of Hawaii.
After the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1893, Lisianski Island became part of the Republic of Hawaii in 1894. On August 12, 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii, including Lisianski Island, and Lisianski Island was included in the Territory of Hawaii upon its creation on April 30, 1900. In 1909, Lisianski Island became part of the new Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation — which later became the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge — established by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Prior to this, there had been concern about the poaching of birds on the island.[ "Lisianski Island and Neva Shoals" National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 12-22-2011.][ Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Multi-Agency Education Project. Retrieved October 12, 2011]
When Hawaii became a U.S. state in August 1959, Lisianski Island became part of the new State of Hawaii. On June 15, 2006, it was included in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Neva Shoals
Neva Shoals is a shallow
reef directly southeast of Lisianski Island covering ,
[, a University of Hawai'i webpage] more than half the size of
Oahu. Lisiansky named Neva Shoals after his ship,
Neva. The shoal is shallow and makes access to the island difficult. The reef has been described by divers as a "
coral garden"
[2] because of the great variety of coral. Twenty-four types of coral have been identified at the reefs surrounding Lisianski.
Reef fish are abundant, including predators.
[
]
See also
-
List of volcanoes in the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain
-
List of islands
-
Desert island
Bibliography
External links
