Bokak Atoll

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Bokak Atoll (Marshallese: Template:Lang or Template:Lang, Template:IPAc-mh<ref>Marshallese-English Dictionary - Place Name Index</ref>) or Taongi Atoll is an uninhabited coral atoll in the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands, in the North Pacific Ocean. Due to its relative isolation from the main islands in the group, Bokak's flora and fauna has been able to exist in a pristine condition.

Geography

It is located Template:Convert north of Majuro Atoll, the capital of the Marshall Islands, and Template:Convert north-northwest of Bikar Atoll, the closest atoll, making it the most northerly and most isolated atoll of the country. Wake Island is Template:Convert north-northwest. The land area is Template:Convert, and the lagoon measures Template:Convert. It consists of 36 islets. The total area is Template:Convert (including reef flat).<ref>Marshall Islands Atoll Information, Bokak (Taongi) Atoll</ref>

Physical features

The atoll is roughly crescent-shaped, measuring about Template:Convert by Template:Convert, and oriented in a north–south direction. The atoll reef is unbroken except for a Template:Convert wide channel in the west. Ten islets lie on the eastern and southeastern reef. The more important named islets, from north to south, are North Island, Kamwome, Bwdije, Sibylla, Bokak, and Bwokwla. Sibylla is the largest, measuring approximately Template:Convert in length and up to Template:Convert in width. Kamwome Islet to the north-east of Sibylla is the second largest, while Bokak (Taongi), after which the atoll is named, lies to the south of Sibylla.<ref name="UNEP">UNEP 2008 World Database on Protected Areas</ref>

Based on the results of drilling operations on Enewetak (Eniwetok) Atoll, in the nearby Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands, Bokak may include as much as Template:Convert of reef material atop a basalt rock base. As most local coral growth stops at about Template:Convert below the ocean surface, such a massive stony coral base suggests a gradual isostatic subsidence of the underlying extinct volcano,<ref>Geoscience Research Institute</ref> which itself rises Template:Convert from the surrounding ocean floor. Shallow water fossils taken from just above Enewetak's basalt base are dated to about 55mya.<ref>Atoll Research Bulletin No. 260</ref>

High boulder and sand ridges indicate a history of severe storms and are a feature of the islets. Inland on the wider islets are sand and rubble flats, while back from the lagoon sides are low sand and gravel ridges. Soils are mostly very immature, a mixture of coarser coral sand and gravel of various textures with very little humus accumulation. The lagoon is shallow, probably not exceeding Template:Convert depth, and has many coral heads and patch reefs, some reaching the surface.<ref name="UNEP"/>

The lagoon water level is up to Template:Convert higher than the surrounding ocean due to an influx of wind-driven waters over the windward ocean reef and the presence of only one narrow reef passage on the leeward side. Water cascades over the coral-covered rim and flats of the sloping leeward reef. A massive algal ridge lines the outer edge of the windward reef, while the south and west reefs are coral-covered narrow flats where landings can be made in quiet weather. A very small algal rim, Template:Convert high, on lagoon shores of the westernmost islets, on east-facing lagoon reef-fronts and on the windward edges of coral patches in the lagoon, may be a feature unique to Taongi. This rim is maintained by the constant flow of water over the reef flat.<ref name="UNEP"/>

Climate

Bokak is the driest of the Marshall Islands atolls, having a semi-arid character. Mean annual temperature is approximately Template:Convert. Mean annual rainfall is less than Template:Convert, and falls primarily during the late summer. Prevailing winds are north to north-easterlies.<ref name="UNEP"/>

Vegetation

Bokak supports just nine plant species. All are native to the Marshall Islands and entirely undisturbed by introduced species. A combination of insufficient rainfall, excellent drainage, and high temperatures lead to an arid environment in which a freshwater Ghyben-Herzberg lens cannot form, and coconut palm is unable to grow.<ref>Atoll Research Bulletin No. 113</ref> The most common formation is a low, sparse scrub forest of tree heliotrope (Heliotropium foertherianum), Template:Convert tall, with occasional taller trees. The understory typically comprises beach maupaka (Scaevola taccada), or sparse endemic bunchgrass, Template:Okinaihi (Portulaca molokiniensis), Template:Okinailima (Sida fallax), or alena (Boerhavia herbstii), the latter being more abundant on broken coral gravel. A small stand of Pisonia grandis is found on Kamwome Islet and in another very small stand on Sibylla.<ref name="UNEP"/>

Pure stands of very dense beach naupaka shrubland, sometimes with tree heliotrope, are predominant and cover 50-75% of southern, and nearly 100% of northeastern Sibylla. Heliotropium, Scaevola, and Sida dominated shrublands and the sandy bunchgrass savanna (Lepturus spp.) represent the finest examples of such vegetation in the Marshalls and probably the entire Pacific region.<ref name="UNEP"/>

The aquatic vegetation of the shallow edges of the lagoon consists of sparse coralline algae, encrusting fragments of coral and shells, and patches of green seaweed.<ref name="UNEP"/>

Fauna

The atoll supports a large population of sea and shorebirds, with up to 26 species present. Species breeding during 1988 included the brown booby, red-footed booby, great frigatebird, red-tailed tropicbird, sooty tern, white tern, brown noddy, and possibly the reef heron. Migratory birds present included the bristle-thighed curlew, turnstone, wandering tattler, golden plover, and the sanderling. The densest bird populations are on three islets to the north of Sibylla: North (Kita), Kamwome and an unnamed islet. Bokak is the only known breeding ground of Christmas shearwater and possibly Bulwer's petrel.<ref name="UNEP"/>

Terrestrial species includes the Polynesian rat on Sibylla. The more aggressive black rat appears to be absent, despite wrecked fishing vessels on the eastern and north eastern reefs.<ref>Atoll Research Bulletin No. 446</ref><ref>Alele Museum</ref> The snake-eyed skink and large hermit crabs are common.<ref name="UNEP"/>

In general, the aquatic fauna population is healthy, but of low diversity, possibly due to the atoll's isolation. Researchers have not seen any marine turtles, but Polynesian custom regarding harvesting assumed their presence.<ref>Atoll Research Bulletin No. 419.</ref> Examples of the giant clam family Tridacnidae are very abundant, except for the largest giant clam T. gigas. Smaller bivalves were present, but few Mollusks. The reef fish are primarily emperor breams, parrotfish, and red snappers. Also present are moray eel and grey reef shark. Approximately 100 stony coral species and two soft coral species are present.<ref>Marshall Islands Atoll Information, Bokak (Taongi) Atoll.</ref>

History

Prehistory

Although humans migrated to the Marshall Islands about 2000 years ago,<ref>University of California, Berkeley</ref> there appear to be no traditional Marshallese artifacts present that would indicate any long term settlement. The harsh, desiccated climate, lack of potable water, and poverty of the soils indicate that the atoll will probably remain uninhabited. The atoll has traditionally been used for hunting and gathering, particularly seabirds, by inhabitants of other atolls in the northern Ratak chain.<ref name="UNEP"/> Along with the other uninhabited northern Ratak atolls of Bikar and Toke, Bokak was traditionally the hereditary property of the Iroji Lablab (chiefs) of the Ratak atoll chain. The exploitation of abundant sea turtles, birds, and eggs was regulated by custom, and overseen by the Iroji.<ref name="Atoll011">Atoll Research Bulletin No. 11</ref>

16th to 19th Century

The first European to record sighting Bokak was Toribio Alonso de Salazar, a Spanish explorer, on August 22, 1526, who commanded Loaisa expedition after the death of Loaisa and Elcano.<ref>Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.39.</ref> It was charted as San Bartolome. It was explored by Spanish naval officer Fernando Quintano in 1795.<ref>Espinosa y Tello, Josef Memorias sobre las observaciones astronomicas hechas por los navegantes españoles en distintos lugares del globo t.II, Madrid, 1809, p.8</ref> A number of other Western ships recorded landfall on or passage by Bokak over the following three hundred years, but no attempt at settlement or establishment of food animals was noted, likely due to the arid conditions, and more fertile atolls nearby.<ref>Ships visiting the Marshall Islands</ref>

The German Empire annexed the Marshall Islands in 1885<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and added to the protectorate of German New Guinea in 1906. Using the justification that uninhabited atolls were unclaimed, the Germans seized Bokak as government property, despite the protests of the local chiefs (Irojilaplap). As Japan's economic vigor expanded under the Meiji Emperor, the German administration noted Marshallese complaints of Japanese bird poaching, more from the view of protecting German sovereignty, rather than the interests of the islanders.<ref name="Atoll011"/>

20th century to present

In 1914, the Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands, and transferred German government properties to their own, including Bokak. Like the Germans before them, the Japanese colonial administration did not attempt to exploit the atoll, and the Northern Ratak Marshallese continued to hunt and fish unmolested.<ref name="Atoll011"/>

As a part of the 1940s Japanese militarization of the Marshall Islands, a small seaplane and communication outpost was established on Sibylla Island. During the early stages of the World War II, USN submarines operating in the area would periodically note patrols by Japanese aircraft.<ref>U.S.S. Wahoo - Report Of First War Patrol</ref> In March, 1943, the 20 man garrison was removed to Wake Island because of the lack of food and their general inability to sustain themselves on Bokak.<ref>Report of Surrender and Occupation of Japan, Office of the CNO</ref> Air elements of the USAAF, USN, and USMC bombed the (abandoned) facility on April 23, 1944. The base became part of the vast US Naval Base Marshall Islands.<ref>CINCPAC Press Release No. 374, APRIL 25, 1944</ref>

The Marshall Islands as a whole were transferred to American administration in the wake of battles with Japanese forces in 1944. In September, 1945, as a part of the post-war repatriation of Japanese from their former Pacific possessions, a landing party was dispatched on LCI(L) 601 from Kwajalein to Bokak Atoll, and in conjunction with a PBM Mariner searched for potential survivors. Two days of search failed to turn up any survivors, human remains, or graves.<ref>Report of Surrender and Occupation of Japan</ref>

While en route from the US to Asia in April, 1953, LST 1138, later commissioned as Template:USS, dropped anchor at Bokak to search for rumored Japanese stragglers. The landing party noted the remains of the wartime outpost, but found no signs of any current occupants.<ref>C.D. Pardee</ref>

In 1954, the experience of large scale fallout from the Castle Bravo nuclear test on Bikini Atoll led to a pre-planned aerial survey of atolls adjacent to the subsequent Castle Romeo test, timed at one and four hours after the shot. The aircraft were equipped with gamma radiation detectors designed to measure ground contamination from altitudes of Template:Convert. An overflight of Sibylla Island measured 1.0 mrem/hr (10 μGy) an hour after the shot, dropping to 0.4 mrem/hr (4 μGy) three hours later.<ref>Department of Health, Safety, and Security, DOE</ref> In 1957, Bokak was surveyed as a site for nuclear weapons testing as a part of Operation Hardtack, but due to the number of improvements required to develop it, was passed over in favor of reusing the Bikini, Enewetak, and Nevada test sites.<ref>U.S. Dept. of Energy OPENnet</ref> The atoll came under renewed consideration for use during Operation Dominic, but by that time the potential for political fallout from nuclear testing within a United Nations Trust Territory was deemed too great.<ref>U.S. Dept. of Energy OPENnet</ref>

The atoll played a part in the disappearance of several men from Maui, Hawaii. On February 11, 1979, Scott Moorman and four companions set sail from Hana harbor in a 17-foot Boston Whaler, and went missing in subsequent high seas. The boat and buried remains of Moorman were discovered Template:Convert away on Bokak in 1988.<ref>Anniversary of Hana's Sarah Joe remembered</ref>

In 1988, the US firm Admiralty Pacific proposed to use the Bokak lagoon as a dump for millions of tons of solid waste. The proposal involved shipping 3.5 million tons of waste the first year and up to 25 million tons and 30 ships after five years.<ref>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</ref>

In August, 2003, two ham radio enthusiasts from Texas camped on Sibylla Island for 76 hours to inaugurate the first Taongi ham station, call sign V73T, and assigned the IOTA<ref>IOTA: Islands On The Air Contests</ref> reference number OC-263. The station transmitted from coordinates Template:Coord.<ref>TDXS Member DXpeditions</ref><ref>CTDXCC Austin Summerfest 2004</ref>

The Dominion of Melchizedek, an unrecognized micronation, claims sovereignty over Bokak, based on a 45-year lease allegedly granted by the Irojilaplap.<ref>Cyberfraud: The fictitious "Dominion of Melchizedek</ref> The rights conveyed to DOM cannot be greater than the traditional leader possessed themself. As such they are still subject to the Government of the Marshall Islands and are not independent.

Currently, historic remains include an abandoned camp/homestead, several wrecked ships and the remnant of the former World War Two Japanese communication outpost.<ref name="UNEP"/>

In 2025, the atoll was included in the Marshall Islands' first designated marine sanctuary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear

Footnotes

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References

External links

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UNEP Protected Areas Program Profile Template:Dead link
Atoll Research Bulletin Archive Home Page Template:Webarchive
U.S. Dept. of Energy OPENnet advanced search page Template:Webarchive, (search full text field on string "Taongi").
Plants in the Marshall Islands, A Photo Essay
Additional papers Template:Dead link from DG406, Theories of Governance Template:Dead link, Pacific Studies Program, PIAS-DG, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
Lost Fishermen still cast shadow... (photos)
Phantoms, A True Story
A Taongi visitor's photolog

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