Prince Edward Islands

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use South African English Template:Infobox islands Template:Designation list Template:Maplink

The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited subantarctic<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean that are administered by South Africa. They are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and Prince Edward Island (named after Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, 1767–1820).

The islands in the group have been declared Special Nature Reserves under the South African Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, No. 57 of 2003, and activities on the islands are therefore restricted to research and conservation management.<ref name="cooper">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Further protection was granted when the area was declared a marine protected area in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="wwf">Template:Cite web</ref> The only human inhabitants of the islands are the staff of a meteorological and biological research station run by the South African National Antarctic Programme on Marion Island.

History

File:Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne jpg.jpg
Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, as imagined by Charles Meryon

Barent Barentszoon Lam of the Dutch East India Company reached the islands on 4 March 1663 on the ship Maerseveen. They were named Dina (Prince Edward) and Maerseveen (Marion),<ref>Pieter Arend Leupe: De eilanden Dina en Maerseveen in den Zuider Atlantischen Oceaan; in: Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen, de zeevaartkunde, de hydrographie, de koloniën en de daarmede in verband staande wetenschappen, Jg. 1868, Deel 28, Afd. 2, [No.] 9; Amsterdam 1868 (pp. 242–253); cf. Template:Cite book</ref> but the islands were erroneously recorded to be at 41° South, and neither were found again by subsequent Dutch sailors.<ref name="btinternet.com">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In January 1772, the French frigate Le Mascarin, captained by Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, visited the islands and spent five days trying to land, thinking they had found Antarctica (then not yet proven to exist).<ref name="keller">Template:Cite book</ref> Marion named the islands Terre de l'Espérance (Marion) and Ile de la Caverne (Prince Edward).<ref name="btinternet.com"/> After failing to land, Le Mascarin continued eastward, discovering the Crozet Islands and landing at New Zealand, where Marion du Fresne and some of his crew were killed by local Māori.

Julien Crozet, navigator and second in command of Le Mascarin, survived the disaster, and happened to meet James Cook at Cape Town in 1776, at the onset of Cook's third voyage.<ref name="cook">Template:Cite book</ref> Crozet shared the charts of his ill-fated expedition, and as Cook sailed from Cape Town, he passed the islands on 13 December, but was unable to attempt a landing due to bad weather.<ref name="keller" /> Cook named the islands after Prince Edward, the fourth son of King George III; and though he is also often credited with naming the larger island Marion, after Captain Marion, this name was adopted by sealers and whalers who later hunted the area, to distinguish the two islands.<ref name="mills">Template:Cite book</ref>

The first recorded landing on the islands was in 1799 by a group of French seal hunters of the Sally.<ref name="mills"/> Another landing in late 1803 by a group of seal hunters led by American captain Henry Fanning of the Catharine found signs of earlier human occupation.<ref name="sanap.ac.za">Template:Cite web</ref> The islands were frequented by sealers until about 1810, when the local fur seal populations had been nearly eradicated.<ref name="mills"/> The first scientific expedition to the islands was led by James Clark Ross, who visited in 1840 during his exploration of the Antarctic, but was unable to land.<ref name="mills"/> Ross sailed along the islands on 21 April 1840. He made observations on vast numbers of penguins ("groups of many thousands each"), and other kinds of sea-birds. He also saw fur seals, which he supposed to be of the species Arctocephalus falklandicus.Template:Sfnp The islands were finally surveyed during the Challenger Expedition, led by Captain George Nares, in 1873.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The sealing era lasted from 1799 to 1913. During that period, visits by 103 vessels are recorded, seven of which ended in shipwreck.<ref>R.K. Headland, Historical Antarctic sealing industry, Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge University), 2018, p.167 Template:ISBN</ref> Sealing relics include iron trypots, the ruins of huts and inscriptions. The occasional modern sealing vessel visited from Cape Town, South Africa, in the 1920s.

The islands have been the location of other shipwrecks. In June 1849, the brig Richard Dart, with a troop of Royal Engineers under Lt. James Liddell, was wrecked on Prince Edward Island; only 10 of the 63 on board survived to be rescued by elephant seal hunters from Cape Town.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1908, the Norwegian vessel Solglimt was shipwrecked on Marion Island, and survivors established a short-lived village at the north coast, before being rescued.<ref name="sanap.ac.za"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The wreck of the Solglimt is the best-known in the islands, and is accessible to divers.<ref name="sanap.ac.za"/>

The British government never officially claimed ownership of the islands; however it did manage economic activities on the islands in the early 20th century.<ref name="Smith2004">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1908, the British government granted a guano lease on Marion Island.<ref name="btinternet.com"/> Following the Second World War, technological advancements made the islands more strategically important, and as no further economic activity was taking place, the UK was concerned other countries might claim the islands.<ref name="Smith2004"/> In late 1947 and early 1948, South Africa, with Britain's agreement, annexed the islands and installed the meteorological station on Transvaal Cove on the north-east coast of Marion Island.<ref name="btinternet.com"/>

On 22 September 1979, a United States surveillance satellite known as Vela 6911 noted an unidentified double flash of light, known as the Vela incident, in the waters off the islands. There was and continues to be considerable controversy over whether this event was perhaps an undeclared nuclear test carried out by South Africa and Israel or some other event.<ref name="The Bomb">Template:Cite book</ref> The cause of the flash remains officially unknown, and some information about the event remains classified.<ref name=NSArchive>Template:Cite report</ref> Today, most independent researchers believe that the 1979 flash was caused by a nuclear explosion.<ref name="NSArchive" /><ref name="jewishbusinessnews.com">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 2003, the South African government declared the Prince Edward Islands a Special Nature Reserve, and in 2013 it declared Template:Cvt of ocean waters around the islands a Marine Protection Area, thus creating one of the world's largest environmental protection areas.<ref name="wwf" />

Marion Research Station

Template:Infobox settlement On 4 January 1948 Marion Island and neighbouring Prince Edward Island were officially annexed into South Africa. A group of 14 sailors stayed on the island until 16 days later a permanent occupying force was left there, soon building a meteorological station.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The 1948 research station on Marion Island was soon enlarged and today studies regional meteorology and the biology of the islands, in particular the birds (penguins, petrels, albatrosses, gulls) and seals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A new research base was built from 2001 to 2011 to replace older buildings on the site.<ref name="Yeld-1">Template:Cite news</ref> The access to the station is either by boat or helicopter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A helipad and storage hangar is located behind the main base structure.<ref name="Yeld-1"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In April 2017, scientists from McGill University, in collaboration with the South African National Antarctic Programme, launched a new astrophysical experiment on Marion Island called Probing Radio Intensity at high-Z from Marion (PRIZM), searching for signatures of the hydrogen line in the early universe.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2018, another cosmology experiment was launched by the McGill team called Array of Long Baseline Antennas for Taking Radio Observation from Sub-Antarctic (ALBATROS). The new experiment aims to create very high-resolution maps of the low-frequency radio emission from the universe, and take first steps towards detecting the cosmological Dark Ages.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In April 2024, the South African National Antarctic Programme station on Marion Island was depicted in an ad for KFC South Africa directed by Kim Geldenhuys, Beyond the Sea, which depicted two hungry South Africans determined to get home for some fried chicken.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography and geology

The island group is about Template:Cvt south-east of Port Elizabeth in mainland South Africa. At 46 degrees latitude, its distance to the equator is only slightly longer than to the South Pole. Marion Island (Template:Coord), the larger of the two, is Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide with an area of Template:Cvt<ref name="USGS">Template:Cite web</ref> and a coastline of some Template:Cvt, most of which is high cliffs. The highest point on Marion Island is Mascarin Peak (formerly State President Swart Peak), reaching Template:Cvt above sea level.<ref name="gvp"/> The topography of Marion Island includes many hillocks and small lakes, and boggy lowland terrain with little vegetation.<ref name="marion">Template:Cite web</ref>

Prince Edward Island (Template:Coord) is much smaller—only Template:Cvt,<ref name="USGS"/> Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide—and lies some Template:Cvt to the north-east of Marion Island. The terrain is generally rocky, with high cliffs (Template:Cvt) on its south western side.<ref name="marion"/> At the van Zinderen Bakker Peak north-west of the center, it reaches a height of Template:Cvt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

There are a few offshore rocks along the northern coast of Prince Edward Island, like Ship Rock Template:Cvt north of northernmost point, and Ross Rocks Template:Cvt from the shore. Boot Rock is about Template:Cvt off the northern coast of Marion Island.

Both islands are of volcanic origin.<ref name="marion"/> Marion Island is one of the peaks of a large underwater shield volcano that rises some Template:Cvt from the sea floor to the top of Mascarin Peak. The volcano is active, with eruptions having occurred between 1980 and 2004.<ref name="gvp">Template:Cite web</ref> While Prince Edward Island may have erupted within the last 10 thousand years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Climate

Despite being located inside the south temperate zone at 46 degrees latitude, the islands have a tundra climate. They lie directly in the path of eastward-moving depressions all year round and this gives them an unusually cool and windy climate. Strong regional winds, known as the roaring forties, blow almost every day of the year, and the prevailing wind direction is north-westerly.<ref name="marion"/> Annual rainfall averages from Template:Cvt up to over Template:Cvt on Mascarin Peak. In spite of its very chilly climate it is located closer to the equator than mild northern hemisphere climates such as Paris and Seattle and only one degree farther south than fellow southern hemisphere climates such as Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentina and Alexandra in New Zealand. Many climates on lower latitudes in the Northern hemisphere have far colder winters than Prince Edward Islands due to the islands' maritime moderation, even though temperatures in summer are much cooler than those normally found in maritime climates.

The islands are among the cloudiest places in the world; about 1300 hours a year of sunshine occur on the sheltered eastern side of Marion Island, but only around 800 hours occur away from the coast on the wet western sides of Marion and Prince Edward Islands.

Summer and winter have fairly similar climates with cold winds and threat of snow or frost at any time of the year. However, the mean temperature in February (midsummer) is Template:Cvt and in August (midwinter) it is Template:Cvt.<ref>General Survey of Climatology, V12 (2001), Elsevier</ref><ref>GISS Climate data averages for 1978 to 2007, source – GHCN</ref>

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Flora and fauna

File:SA Agulhas with bull kelp and penguin.jpg
View from Marion island of the South African icebreaker SA Agulhas, with a penguin swimming in the water and kelp on the shore

The islands are part of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands tundra ecoregion that includes a small number of subantarctic islands. Because of the paucity of land masses in the Southern Ocean, the islands host a wide variety of species and are critical to conservation.<ref name="wwf"/> In the cold subantarctic climate, plants are mainly limited to grasses, mosses, and kelp, while lichens are the most visible fungi. The main indigenous animals are insects (such as the seaweed-eating weevil Palirhoeus eatoni) along with large populations of seabirds, seals<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and penguins.<ref name="ecoregion">Template:WWF ecoregion</ref>

Birds

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File:Diomedea exulans 3 - SE Tasmania.jpg
A wandering albatross

The islands have been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International for their significant seabird breeding populations.<ref name=bli>Template:Cite web</ref> At least thirty different species of birds are thought to breed on the islands, and it is estimated the islands support upwards of 5 million breeding seabirds, and 8 million seabirds total.<ref name="wwf"/> Five species of albatross (of which all are either threatened or endangered) are known to breed on the islands, including the wandering albatross, dark-mantled, light-mantled, Indian yellow-nosed and grey-headed albatross.<ref name="wwf"/>

The islands also host fourteen species of petrel, four species of prion, the Antarctic tern, and the brown skua, among other seabirds.<ref name="wwf"/><ref name="ecoregion"/> Four penguin species are found: king penguins, Eastern rockhoppers, gentoos and macaroni penguins.<ref name="ecoregion"/>

Mammals

Three species of seal breed on the islands: the southern elephant seal, the Antarctic fur seal, and the Subantarctic fur seal.<ref name="wwf"/> The waters surrounding the islands are often frequented by several species of whale, especially orcas, which prey on penguins and seals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Large whales such as southern rights and southern humpbacks, and leopard seals are seen more sporadically, and it remains unclear how large or stable their current local populations are, though it is thought their numbers are significantly down compared to the time of first human contact with the islands.<ref name=MarionResearch>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The area saw heavy sealing and whaling operations in the nineteenth century and continued to be subject to mass illegal whaling until the 1970s, with the Soviet Union and Japan allegedly continuing whaling operations into the 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Currently, the greatest ecological threat is the longline fishing of Patagonian toothfish, which endangers a number of seabirds that dive into the water after baited hooks.<ref name="wwf"/>

Terrestrial plants

Like all subantarctic islands, Marion has a small number of native plant species. The isolation of the island and the cold, wet, windy weather conditions filtered out many potential plants from reaching and successfully establishing populations. Only 22 vascular plants were native to the island prior to human arrival. One of them, Ranunculus moseleyi, a species also found in the Kerguelen Islands, is of uncertain status with no records of it being found since 1969 and no specimens in archives to unambiguously prove its presence prior to that date.<ref name="Chau et al. 2020" />

There are seven species of fern and fern allies include Antarctic hard-fern (Austroblechnum penna-marina), alpine filmy-fern (Hymenophyllum peltatum), Magellanic clubmoss (Lycopodium magellanicum), Notogrammitis crassior, Phlegmariurus saururus, Polystichum marionense, and Elaphoglossum randii.<ref name="Chau et al. 2020" />

The island has five species of cushion and mat forming flowering plants Azorella selago, Callitriche antarctica, Colobanthus kerguelensis, Crassula moschata, Leptinella plumosa. Other herbaceous plants include Kerguelen cabbage (Pringlea antiscorbutica), Antarctic buttercup (Ranunculus biternatus), Limosella australis, and blinks (Montia fontana).<ref name="Chau et al. 2020" />

Several grass-like species grow on Marion including the rush Juncus scheuchzerioides, Cook's tussock-grass (Poa cookii), Polypogon magellanicus.<ref name="Chau et al. 2020" /> The sedge species Carex dikei is endemic to Marion and Prince Edward Island, but was only scientifically described in 2015.<ref name="POWO">Template:Cite POWO</ref> Further research is needed to determine if records of Carex austrocompacta on other subantarctic islands might be this species.<ref name="Chau et al. 2020">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Invasive species

The wildlife is particularly vulnerable to introduced species and the historical problem has been with cats and mice. House mice arrived to Marion Island with whaling and sealing ships in the 1800s and quickly multiplied, so much so that in 1949, five domestic cats were brought to the research base to deal with them.<ref name="cats">Template:Cite journal</ref> The cats multiplied quickly, and by 1977 there were approximately 3,400 cats on the island, feeding on burrowing petrels in addition to mice, and taking an estimated 455,000 petrels a year.<ref name="plague">Template:Cite web</ref> Some species of petrels soon disappeared from Marion Island, and a cat eradication programme was established.<ref name="cats"/> A few cats were intentionally infected with the highly specific feline panleukopenia virus, which reduced the cat population to about 600 by 1982.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The remaining cats were killed by nocturnal shooting, and in 1991 only eight cats were trapped in a 12-month period.<ref name="cats"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

It is believed that no cats remain on Marion Island today, and with the cats gone, the mouse population has sharply increased to "plague like" levels.<ref name="plague"/> In 2003, ornithologists discovered that in the absence of other food sources, the mice were attacking albatross chicks and eating them alive as they sat helplessly on their nests.<ref name="plague"/> A similar problem has been observed on Gough Island, where a mouse eradication programme began in 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A programme to eradicate invasive rats on South Georgia Island was completed in 2015, and as of 2016 the island appears to be completely rat free.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The geography of Marion Island presents certain obstacles not found on either Gough or South Georgia islands, particularly its large size, high elevations and variable weather.<ref name="plague"/> An assessment of the island was completed in May 2015, led by noted invasive species ecologist John Parkes, with the general conclusion that an eradication programme is feasible, but will require precise planning.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Both Gough Island and the Prince Edward Islands also suffer from invasive procumbent pearlwort (Sagina procumbens), which is transforming the upland ecosystem and is now considered beyond control.<ref>Cooper, J. et al., "Earth, fire and water: applying novel techniques to eradicate the invasive plant, procumbent pearlwort Sagina procumbenss, on Gough Island, a World heritage Site in the South Atlantic" Template:Webarchive, Invasive Species Specialist Group, 2010, retrieved 12 February 2014.</ref>

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File:Marion Island.png
Logo of Marion Island

Marion Island and Prince Edward Island were claimed for South Africa on 29 December 1947 and 4 January 1948 respectively, by a South African Navy force from HMSAS Transvaal under the command of John Fairbairn.<ref name="sanap.ac.za"/> On 1 October 1948 the annexation was made official when Governor-General Gideon Brand van Zyl signed the Prince Edward Islands Act, 1948. In terms of the Act, the islands fall under the jurisdiction of the Cape Town Magistrate's Court, and South African law as applied in the Western Cape applies on them. The islands are also deemed to be situated within the electoral district containing the Port of Cape Town; Template:As of, this is ward 115 of the City of Cape Town.

Amateur radio

File:Cloud Patterns Over the Prince Edward Islands.jpg
Cloud patterns over the Prince Edward Islands

Template:As of, Marion Island, prefix ZS8, was the third-most wanted DXCC "entity" by the amateur radio community. By the end of 2014, it had dropped to 27th, after simultaneous activity by three licencees in the 2013/2014 team. However, their activity was mainly on voice. On Morse telegraphy, the Islands remain the second-most wanted entity after North Korea, while on data they are sixth out of 340.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

Citations

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General and cited sources

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