Avocaré Island (Avoquer, Avocaire, L'Avocaire) is an island located in the

St Brandon Saint Brandon (), also known as the Cargados Carajos Shoals, is a southwest Indian Ocean archipelago of sand banks, shoals and islets belonging to the Republic of Mauritius. It lies about northeast of the island of Mauritius. It consists of fiv ...

archipelago. In the World Bank Report recommending the creation of the

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

of St. Brandon, Avocaré Island was classified as a Group 3 Island together with

Île Raphael Île Raphael is an island in the Saint Brandon archipelago, a group of 30 outer islands of Mauritius. The island is named after Veuve Raphaël. Veuve Raphaël's husband was a sea captain and had installations on the corner of rue (route) des ...

L'Île Coco L'Île Coco ('Coco Island') is one of the longest islands adjoining the inner lagoon of the St. Brandon archipelago. It is at times inhabited by fishermen as a base for the resident fishing company's fishing activities as well as for fly fishin ...

and

L'île du Sud L'île du Sud (South Island, l'île Boisées) is an island located in the St. Brandon archipelago. It is one of the three islands (the others being Île Raphael and L'Île Coco) used as a base of operations for fishing activities by Raphael Fishin ...

. In 1846, Avocaré Island was visited by British naval officer

Edward Belcher Sir Edward Belcher (27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877) was a British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer. Born in Nova Scotia, he was the great-grandson of Jonathan Belcher, who served as a colonial governor of Massachusetts, New ...

aboard HMS ''Samarang'', who confirmed that it was then a principal fishing station with fishermen catching 102 kg of fish per day. Avocaré Island is today an uninhabited bird and turtle sanctuary. Access to the island is restricted to prevent the introduction of invasive alien species.

Key Biodiversity Area Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are geographical regions that have been determined to be of international importance in terms of biodiversity conservation, using globally standardized criteria published by the IUCN as part of a collaboration between sc ...

This St. Brandon island is one of at least thirty located on the Mauritian

Cargados Carajos Saint Brandon (), also known as the Cargados Carajos Shoals, is a southwest Indian Ocean archipelago of sand banks, shoals and islets belonging to the Republic of Mauritius. It lies about northeast of the island of Mauritius. It consists of fiv ...

coral reef

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...

system, part of a CEPF designated

Key Biodiversity Area Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are geographical regions that have been determined to be of international importance in terms of biodiversity conservation, using globally standardized criteria published by the IUCN as part of a collaboration between sc ...

(KBA) of the

in the Southwest Indian Ocean. The

are closely skirted by busy Southeast Asian shipping lanes (North and South of the Archipelago) making its unique ecosystem extremely vulnerable to a variety of risks which pose threats to its long-term existence as a

. St. Brandon (or the Cargados Carajos shoals) is a unique, isolated barrier reef atoll in the southwest Indian Ocean. It is a vital habitat for endangered marine and terrestrial species and faces an existential threat from shipwrecks, illegal fishing and pollution. St. Brandon has more than 200 km2 of reef habitat and possesses possibly one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth holding over 25% of known marine species when these cover less than 1% of the sea floor. In the West, there is a coral bank and a fringing reef, dominated by staghorn Acropora, classified as threatened by the US

National Marine Fisheries Service The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), informally known as NOAA Fisheries, is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for the ste ...

in 2014. To the East of the atoll, there is a greater coral diversity including a rare species of the Pavona coral. There are persistent, but as yet unproven rumours, of the presence of rare brain corals around Avocaré Island in St. Brandon waiting to be discovered and preserved for posterity.

References

Ile Raphael Outer Islands of Mauritius Reefs of the Indian Ocean Fishing areas of the Indian Ocean Important Bird Areas of Mauritius Atolls of the Indian Ocean Marine reserves Marine conservation Oceanography Fisheries science Fisheries law Marine protected areas Mascarene Islands Insular ecology Biodiversity Conchology Quarantine facilities Fly fishing Fishing tournaments Environment of Mauritius Natural history of Mauritius {{Mauritius-geo-stub

Key Biodiversity Area Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are geographical regions that have been determined to be of international importance in terms of biodiversity conservation, using globally standardized criteria published by the IUCN as part of a collaboration between sc ...

See also

References