Desnœufs Island is an island in Seychelles, lying at the southern edge of the Amirantes group, in the Outer Islands, with a distance of 321 km south of

Victoria, Seychelles Victoria () is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Seychelles, situated on the north-eastern side of Mahé island, the archipelago's main island. The city was first established as the seat of the British colonial government. In 2010 ...

History

The origin of the name seems to be its

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

meaning, "one of nine", as it is one of the nine main islands of the Amirantes.

Geography

Desnœufs Island is the southernmost island of the Amirantes chain, is a nearly circular island with a high rim surrounding a central depression (instead of a lagoon). It is up to 5.5 m high. Most of the land is exposed

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, after the

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

has been exploited in the 20th century. The island has a fringing reef, and the reef flat is narrow. Landing can be extremely difficult, with heavy swells sweeping round the island even during the calmest sea conditions.

Administration

The island belongs to Outer Islands District. Being an island with a small population, there are not any government buildings or services. For many services, people have to go to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, which is a difficult task.

Economics

The occasional villagers of

Marie Louise Island Marie Louise Island is a low-lying coral island in the Amirantes group of the Outer Islands of the Republic of Seychelles, in the western Indian Ocean, with a distance of 308 km south-west of Victoria, Seychelles. History The Island was n ...

used to poach eggs illegally on the island when the island was a base for the commercial exploitation of seabirds, especially the eggs of the

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...

(''Onychoprion fuscatus''). recent years the island was made a reservation, and is visited once a year shortly by IDC members and scientists from Mahe. There are ruins on the island from the time of the poaching.

Flora and fauna

The terrestrial vegetation on the island is limited because of the high number of seabirds. The island is almost treeless and is covered by grasses and other low-growing plants. It has been identified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports a breeding population of 430,000 pairs of

s, and a large number of

boobies A booby is a seabird in the genus ''Sula'', part of the family Sulidae. Boobies are closely related to the gannets (''Morus''), which were formerly included in ''Sula''. Systematics and evolution The genus ''Sula'' was introduced by the Frenc ...

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

and

hawksbill The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is large ...

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

s also nest there. The island is also known for its rich fish life.

Image gallery

File:Seychelles large map.jpg, Map 1 File:Outer Islands in Seychelles.svg, District Map

References

External links

National Bureau of Statistics

2010 Sailing directions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desnoeufs, Seychelles Islands of Outer Islands (Seychelles) Important Bird Areas of Seychelles Seabird colonies