BRITAIN’S Distant Seas The Waters of the UK Overseas Territories STEWART MCPHERSON Stingrays swimming in the shallows of Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands) (Matt Murph/Shutterstock.com). REDFERN NATURAL HISTORY PRODUCTIONS Don Hanson Charitable Foundation Linden House, Linden Close, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8HH, United Kingdom 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 Island ............................................................................................ 7 Saint Helena .................................................................................................19 Tristan da Cunha .........................................................................................31 Falkland Islands ...........................................................................................43 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ..................................55 British Antarctic Territory .........................................................................69 British Indian Ocean Territory .................................................................81 Pitcairn Islands .............................................................................................93 Bermuda ......................................................................................................105 Cayman Islands ..........................................................................................115 British Virgin Islands ................................................................................127 Montserrat ..................................................................................................137 Anguilla .......................................................................................................147 Turks and Caicos Islands .........................................................................159 Akrotiri and Dhekelia ...............................................................................171 Gibraltar ......................................................................................................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 Volcano 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 Islands, Pitcairn Island Council, Pitcairn Island Museum, the Pitcairn Islands Study Centre; the Polar Regions 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 Cyprus, the Royal Air Force, the Akrotiri Environmental Education 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 Robert 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 you 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