Don’t be isolated in the middle of these Phoenix Islands Protected Area facts.
- Phoenix Islands Protected Area is a marine location designated as a protected site, found in the Pacific Ocean, in the vicinity of the Republic of Kiribati.
- ‘Phoenix Islands Protected Area’ is also known by the acronym ‘PIPA’, and the area contains a notable archipelago of coral.
- Phoenix Islands Protected Area is the home to eight different islands, named ‘Enderbury’, ‘Rawaki’, ‘Orona’, ‘McKean’, ‘Nikumaroro’, ‘Birnie’, ‘Manra’ and ‘Kanton’, and the latter is inhabited by a small number of people.
- Phoenix Islands Protected Area is a Marine Protected Area (MPA), and the Pacific Ocean’s largest protected area, covering 408,250 square kilometres (157,626 square miles).
- In the vicinity of Phoenix Islands Protected Area, more than 500 species of fish can be found, as well as up to 200 species of coral, and over 40 species of birds.
Part of Phoenix Islands Protected Area
Image courtesy of OggiScienza/Flickr
- Introduced species, including rats, pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits and lantana, have all severely damaged the state of Phoenix Islands Protected Area’s islands, however, eradication programs have been in place on some of the islands, and these have proven to be successful and enabled some damage to be reversed.
- The UNESCO World Heritage Convention declared the Phoenix Islands Protected Area as a World Heritage Site in 2010.
- By 2006, an invasion of rats completely destroyed some species of birds on the island of McKean in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, due to their introduction by a 2002 shipwrecked boat.
- Fishing in Phoenix Islands Protected Area is guided by set rules, although many people find these rules are not strict enough.
- Only 25 square kilometres (9.7 square miles) of land, equalling 1 part out of 16330, of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area is above seawater.