BRITAIN’S Distant Seas

The Waters of the UK Overseas Territories

STEWART MCPHERSON

Stingrays swimming in the shallows of Grand Cayman (Cayman ) (Matt Murph/Shutterstock.com). REDFERN NATURAL HISTORY PRODUCTIONS Don Hanson Charitable Foundation Linden House, Linden Close, Tunbridge Wells, TN4 8HH, www.donhansoncharitablefoundation.org

Britain’s Distant Seas of the UK Overseas Territories ISBN 978-1-913631-01-7

Copyright © Don Hanson Charitable Foundation

All rights reserved. First printed August, 2020 Printed in Slovenia on behalf of Latitude Press Limited

Reproduction or translation of any part of this book, except for short excerpts used in reviews, without the written permission of the publisher is unlawful. Requests for permission to reproduce parts of this work, or for additional information, should be addressed to the publisher.

Dedicated to my friend Andrew Fox, for his appreciation of the UK Overseas Territories, and his passion in supporting many causes to give the people, wildlife and heritage of the Overseas Territories a brighter future. Special thanks to the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the British Overseas Territories

Working together to provide knowledge and inspire awareness about nature, science and the conservation of our world.

One copy of this book has been donated to each of 20,000 primary schools across the United Kingdom and her Overseas Territories.

www.donhansoncharitablefoundation.org www.fotbot.org

– i – Britain’s Distant Seas: of the UK Overseas Territories Contents

Acknowledgments...... iv Introduction...... 1 The UK Overseas Territories...... 3 Ascension ...... 7 ...... 19 ...... 31 ...... 43 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ...... 55 British Antarctic Territory...... 69 British Indian Territory...... 81 Islands...... 93 ...... 105 ...... 115 British ...... 127 ...... 137 ...... 147 ...... 159 ...... 171 ...... 179 Conservation Lessons...... 190 More Information...... 196 Glossary...... 197 About the Author...... 198 Recommended Reading...... 198 Index...... 199

The silhouette of a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) (Sirtravelalot/Shutterstock.com). Saint Helena butterflyfish (Chaetodon sanctaehelenae) (Judith Brown).

– ii – – iii – Wildlife Conservation Society, the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department; the Government of Gibraltar, Gibraltar Ornithological, Natural History Society, Acknowledgments the Gibraltar Museum; the Government of Montserrat, Montserrat National Trust, Department of Environment, the Montserrat Observatory; the I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all those individuals and organisations across the UK Overseas Territories and their Governments Government of the , Pitcairn Island Council, Pitcairn Island Museum, the Pitcairn Islands Study Centre; the Polar Department of the and Administrations for allowing my team and I to visit, making us feel welcome, and helping our efforts to document the wildlife, history and heritage of the Foreign, Commonwealth Office; the Government of Saint Helena, Saint Helena Environment Management Department, Nature Resources Department of Territories. Your advice and help finding, studying, photographing and filming the animals, plants and other subjects featured in this work was essential, and only Saint Helena, Saint Helena National Trust, the Wirebird Team, Saint Helena Museum, the Government of South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, South through your help could a book such as this be possible. Georgia Heritage Trust, the crews of the Hans Hansson and Golden Fleece; the Sovereign Base Area Administration in , the , the Akrotiri Environmental Centre; the Government of Tristan da Cunha, Tristan da Cunha Island Council, Tristan da Cunha Conservation Department, Tristan Assembling this overview of the aquatic life of all of the UK Overseas Territories presented unique challenges. Completing this work was possible only by da Cunha Fisheries, Conservation Department, Arnold Halberstadt of the vessel Supreme Lady; the Government of the Turks, Caicos Islands, Turks, Caicos bringing together key experts from across the world, whose studies concerned specific aspects of the marine biodiversity of each of the UK Overseas Territories. National Museum, Turks, Caicos National Trust, Department of Environment, Coastal Resources, the Turks; the Government of the Virgin Islands, National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands, Department of Environment, Fisheries, Ministry of Natural Resources, Labour, and the Jost van Dyke Preservation Society. I am astounded by how many people have so generously shared their findings, and contributed text, data and images to make this work complete. Such content would otherwise have been impossible to include, and has greatly enriched the content of this book. I extend special thanks to Irving of Sea-Scope Marine Environmental Consultants for his careful editing this entire work. I wish to sincerely thank the following for their kind contributions: Jon Ablett, Kenickie Andrews, Simeon Archer-Rand, Emmy Aston, Dr David K A Barnes, Lastly, a very sincere thank to all at the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the British Overseas Territories for making possible the Alastair Baylis, Mateusz Bednarczuk, James Bell, Marthán Bester, Paul Brewin, Dr Paul Brickle, Clare Brook, Caroline Brown, Dr Judith Brown, Sabrina Carrara, donation of one copy of this book to each of 20,000 primary schools across the UK and her Overseas Territories. I extend my particular thanks to Andrew Fox Charles Clover, Lisa Collins, Martin Collins, Alison Copeland, Chris Darby, George Duffield, Jamie Ellick, Dr Rocio Espada, Dr Nicole Esteban, Darren Fa, and Simon Leary for making the publication of this title possible. Tessa Feeney, Trevor Glass, Dylan Gomila, Dr Shannon Gore, Dr Huw Griffiths, Dr Emily Hardman, Guy Harvey, Jim Hellemn, Rohan Holt, Bradley Johnson, Rhys Hobbs, Robert Irving, Sheena Isaac, Dr Jennifer Jackson, Gregory Julius, Danny Kessler, David Lea, James Maclaine, Stephanie Martin, Nicky Martinez, Croy McCoy, Dr Liesl Mesilio, Andrew Myers, Dr Simon Morley, Leigh Morris, Karl Netto, Neil van Niekerk, Janice Panton, Nancy Pascoe, Tara Pelembe, Jess Rattle, Robin Repetto, Dr Peter Richardson, Dr Nicolai Roterman, Chester Sands, Amdeep Sanghera, George Schellenger, Tim Scoones, Sue Scott, Brice Semmens, Christy Semmens, Anne Sheppard, Prof. Charles Sheppard, Jon Slayer, Ness Smith, Dr Struan Smith, Tammy Stamford, Dr Andrew Stanworth, Matthew Stritch, Beth Taylor, Vanessa Thomas-Williams, Dr Cassander P. Titley-O’Neal, Rui Vieira, Stephen Warr, Steve Warren, Dr Nicola Weber, Caroline Weir, Steve Weinman, Will Wood and Oli Yates. If I have neglected to include anyone in the above list, I apologize unreservedly. I am particularly grateful to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for the kind assistance offered throughout this project, and I especially thank Kylie Bamford for her help in developing the initial concept of this book. I also thank all FCO representatives relating to the UK Overseas Territories for the kind assistance that they have extended to me and for reviewing this work. A sincere thanks also to the UK Hydrographic Office and Andrew Waddington for kindly providing official figures concerning the Maritime Zones of each of the UK Overseas Territories, as well as the maritime limit maps used in the chapters throughout this work. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the following organisations for supporting the creation of this book: Blue Marine Foundation, British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Chagos Conservation Trust, Darwin Initiative, Falklands Conservation, the Grouper Moon Project, Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, Ketos Ecology, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Research Institute, Marine Conservation Society, Marine Management Organisation, Reef Foundation, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Shallow Marine Surveys Group (SMSG), South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI), Southern Cross Club, Turks and Caicos Islands Turtle Project, UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum, UKOTA and the of Pretoria. I also thank the following organisations for their extensive help during my visits to all of the UK Overseas Territories: the Government of Anguilla, Anguilla National Trust, Department of Fisheries, Marine Resources, Anguilla Heritage Collection Museum, the Anguilla Archaeological, Historical Society; the Government of , Ascension Island Conservation Department, Ascension Heritage Society, Ascension Island Museum and the Royal Air Force; the Government of Bermuda, Bermuda National Trust, Bermuda Department of Conservation Services, the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, Zoo; the British Territory Administration, the Government of the Cayman Islands, Cayman Islands Department of Environment, National Trust for the Cayman Islands, Blue Iguana Recovery Program; the Government of the Falkland Islands, Falkland Islands Museum, National Trust, New Island Conservation Trust,

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