View of Lisianski Island.

Lisianski Island (Hawaiian: Papa??poho) is one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, with a land area of and a maximum elevation of 40 feet (12 m) above sea level. Honolulu is away, to the southeast. Linked to Lisianski are the extensive Neva Shoals. Access to the island is limited to a narrow sandy inlet on the southeastern side of the island.

The island is volcanic, and is undergoing a slow process of erosion. There is 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??poho, means "island with a depression". Over three-quarters of the Bonin Petrels that nest in Hawaii nest here.

The Island is named after Yuri Feodorovich Lisyansky, an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy. Lisianski was the commanding officer of the sloop-of-war Neva, an exploratory ship which ran aground on the island in 1805. Lisianski 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 Hawaiian Kingdom in May 10, 1857. In 1890, the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company acquired a twenty-year lease on the Island from the Kingdom of Hawaii. Later, in 1909, Lisianski became part of the new Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation established by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Prior to this, there had been concern about the poaching of birds on the island.

Neva Shoals

Coral at Neva.

Neva Shoals is a shallow reef covering 979 square kilometers (378 square miles), more than half the size of Oahu, directly southeast of the island. Neva Shoals was named by Lisiansky, after his ship Neva. The reef has been described by divers as a "coral garden" http://hawaiireef.noaa.gov/about/lisianski.html because of the great variety of coral. 24 types of coral were identified at the reefs surrounding Lisianski.

References

• Lisianski Island: Block 1014, Census Tract 114.98, Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States Census Bureau.
• M. Rauzon, Isles of Refuge: Wildlife and History of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu: 2001.

External links

• Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Multi-Agency Education Project — Lisianski
• Jane's Oceania Home Page — Lisianski
• Quick Facts on Lisianski Island from the PBS Ocean Adventures site
• Hawaiin Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve

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