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L'ÃŽle Coco (Coco Island) is a Mascarene Island located in the
Cargados Carajos It is highly likely that the name Saint Brandon was derived from the French sailors and corsairs that sailed to and from Britanny, after a town called Saint-Brandan. It has since been Anglicised to Saint Brandon and is also known as the Cargado ...
shoals, a group of outer islands of Mauritius within an
archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
. L'ÃŽle Coco is one of the thirteen islands of the Cargados Carajos shoals held under
Permanent Grant A 999-year lease, under historic Common Law, is a Permanent Lease of property. Permanent Lease locations are in Britain, its former colonies and the Commonwealth. A former colony, the Republic of Mauritius (The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The Sta ...
by the Raphael Fishing Company, which was incorporated in
Port Louis Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's ec ...
, Mauritius on 7 July 1927. The island is one of the largest by size within the Saint Brandon
Archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
() and was permanently inhabited by fishermen until recently. It is still sometimes used as a base for Raphael Fishing Company
fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
and fly casting activities. The island is inhabited by many thousands of sea birds and seasonally by turtles coming to lay their eggs.


Site description

The archipelago around L'ÃŽle Coco is spread over 300 ha on over 20 islets and many more sand banks and is greatly affected by tides. The Cargados Carajos shoals lie on a limestone plateau and sea depth seldom exceeds 20 metres. The crescent-shaped
St Brandon It is highly likely that the name Saint Brandon was derived from the French sailors and corsairs that sailed to and from Britanny, after a town called Saint-Brandan. It has since been Anglicised to Saint Brandon and is also known as the Cargado ...
reef itself covers around 19,000 ha, is 38 km long by 5 km wide. Islets such as L'ÃŽle Coco and sandbanks and cays are found on the western side; the largest of these on the West are
Île Raphael Île Raphael within the Madagascar Hotspot in the Indian Ocean. (called after Mme. Veuve Raphaël -1820s ) is an island in the Cargados Carajos shoals ( Saint Brandon), a group of thirty outer islands of Mauritius. Île Raphael is the operati ...
, Avocaré Island, L'Île Coco and
L'île du Sud L'île du Sud (South Island, l'île Boisées) is an island located in the Cargados Carajos shoals, a group of outer islands of Mauritius, one of thirteen islands of St. Brandon, held under permanent lease since 1901 and under Permanent Grant ...
. Raphael Fishing Company is the only company based on and with land rights to the archipelago. Raphael Fishing Company fishing settlements exist seasonally on Avocaré Island, L'Île Coco and L'île du Sud.


Bird and turtle biodiversity

The
Cargados Carajos It is highly likely that the name Saint Brandon was derived from the French sailors and corsairs that sailed to and from Britanny, after a town called Saint-Brandan. It has since been Anglicised to Saint Brandon and is also known as the Cargado ...
shoals host large numbers of seabirds. There have been many recommendations for the protection of the more important bird colonies (see UNEP/IUCN 1988) but, apart from Raphael Fishing Company privately funding the protection of its own island areas (e.g. ongoing eradication of IAS), nothing concrete has been achieved on the ground in St Brandon to date (). In 2010, a significant survey of seabirds and turtles of St Brandon was undertaken. "We estimated that 1.084.191 seabirds comprising seven breeding species and excluding non-breeders were present at the archipelago and we counted 279 turtle tracks and nesting pits of
green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species In biology, a spec ...
s (''Chelonia mydas'').
Hawksbill turtle 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 ...
s (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') were also present. L'ÃŽle Coco is an active nesting site for the sea-turtles ''
Chelonia mydas The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia' ...
'' (EN) and ''
Eretmochelys imbricata 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 ...
'' (CR).


Marine biodiversity

The islands of St. Brandon are isolated and continuous and ongoing scientific work has been scarce in identifying new marine species over the period 1900 - 2000. In May 2013, a new species of Labrid fish was discovered called the Novaculops alvheimi, the ''St. Brandon’s sandy.'' There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that many other species are yet to be discovered that would justify establishing a scientific base in St. Brandon. With increasing access to the islands over the last twenty years, new discoveries bear this out, ''A new species of the subgenus Aspilaturbo Williams, 2008 was found on the remote islands of Saint Brandon (Cargados Carajos Islands). This species is described here as new(...)..''.In 2021, a new species of Ophioglossolambis Dekkers was denominated Ophioglossolambis itsumiae.. The isolation of the isles of Saint Brandon has produced a high degree of
endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
among marine species and presents significant potential for the discovery of other endemics within the Archipelago.


Other islands

The other twelve islands of St Brandon of note and with access to Raphael Fishing Company's infrastructure transport and accommodation for visiting fishermen are shown below. Together with L'ÃŽle Coco, they compose The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon which are offered ongoing protection from man-made environmental dangers and invasive species (IAS). Onboarding access to these islands is controlled by Raphael Fishing Company, which holds them under a
Permanent Grant A 999-year lease, under historic Common Law, is a Permanent Lease of property. Permanent Lease locations are in Britain, its former colonies and the Commonwealth. A former colony, the Republic of Mauritius (The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The Sta ...
adjudged by the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...
.


Fishing activities

Raphael Fishing Company practises sustainable commercial hand line fishing using pirogues across the archipelago. Its thirteen islands also offer one of the most pristine and untouched locations in the world for
catch-and-release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned ...
fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
and
fly casting Fly casting is a competitive variation of fly fishing found in sport fishing and fishing tournaments. This type of sports fishing originated in the Fourteenth Century. The modern version of the sport is supervised by the International Casting Spor ...
. There are scattered islands, vast connecting sandbanks, flats of hard white sand and broken coral. There are flats covered in
turtle grass ''Thalassia testudinum'', commonly known as turtlegrass, is a species of Marine (ocean), marine seagrass. It forms meadows in shallow sandy or muddy locations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Turtle grass and other seagrasses form sea ...
. The atoll has excellent bonefishing.
Bonefish The bonefish (''Albula vulpes'') is the type species of the bonefish family (Albulidae), the only family in order Albuliformes. History Bonefish were once believed to be a single species with a global distribution, however 9 different species ...
are one of the feistiest fly and light tackle game fish. Bonefishing is a popular sport in the
Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
, Puerto Rico and southern
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
Bonefish The bonefish (''Albula vulpes'') is the type species of the bonefish family (Albulidae), the only family in order Albuliformes. History Bonefish were once believed to be a single species with a global distribution, however 9 different species ...
live in the shallow water of the archipelago and fishermen can wade for many kilometers to practise their craft. Bonefishing is a sport and the fish are released.
Bonefish The bonefish (''Albula vulpes'') is the type species of the bonefish family (Albulidae), the only family in order Albuliformes. History Bonefish were once believed to be a single species with a global distribution, however 9 different species ...
are notoriously skittish and great skill and poise is required to catch them. They are known as “grey ghosts." Other species are bluefin, golden, yellow dot and green spot
trevally The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the only famil ...
and the
giant trevally The giant trevally (''Caranx ignobilis''), also known as the lowly trevally, barrier trevally, ronin jack, giant kingfish or ''ulua'', is a species of large marine fish classified in the jack family, Carangidae. The giant trevally is distributed ...
which reaches weights above 30 kilograms.


Image gallery

Image:L'ÃŽle Coco Beach in Cargados Carajos Saint Brandon Mauritius, one of the Thirteen Islands of Raphael Fishing Company.jpg, Image:L'ÃŽle Coco Beach Tournefortia argentea in Cargados Carajos Saint Brandon Mauritius, one of the Thirteen Islands of Raphael Fishing Company.jpg, Image:L'ÃŽle Coco (Coco Island) St Brandon Cargados Carajos Vegetation.jpg, Image:L'ÃŽle Coco - Fauna of St Brandon Cargados Carajos.jpg, Image:Raphael Fishing Company Coco Island St. Brandon from the sea.jpg, Image:The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon - Images of L'ÃŽle Coco, Cargados Carajos in Mauritius 01.jpg, Image:The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon - Images of L'ÃŽle Coco, Cargados Carajos in Mauritius 02.jpg, Image:The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon - Images of L'ÃŽle Coco, Cargados Carajos in Mauritius 03.jpg, Image:The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon - Images of L'ÃŽle Coco, Cargados Carajos in Mauritius 04.jpg, Image:The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon - Images of L'ÃŽle Coco, Cargados Carajos in Mauritius 05.jpg, Image:The Thirteen Islands of St Brandon - Images of L'ÃŽle Coco, Cargados Carajos in Mauritius 06.jpg,


See also

* *
Casting (fishing) In angling, casting is the act of the angler throwing the bait and hook (or a lure) out over the water, typically by slinging a fishing line manipulated by a long, elastic fishing rod. The term itself may also be used for setting out a net w ...
*
Fishing tournament A fishing tournament, or derby, is an organised competition among anglers. Fishing tournaments typically take place as a series of competitive events around or on a clearly defined body of water with specific rules applying to each event. They can ...
*
Fly Casting Analyzer The Fly Casting Analyzer is a research tool for understanding fly casting, developed in 2003 by Bruce Richards of Scientific Anglers and Noel Perkins, a professor of engineering at the University of Michigan. The Fly Casting Analyzer is a unique ...
* Joan Wulff


References

{{Reflist Islands of St. Brandon Mascarene Islands Outer Islands of Mauritius Reefs of the Indian Ocean Fishing areas of the Indian Ocean Insular ecology Important Bird Areas of Mauritius Flora of Mauritius Atolls of the Indian Ocean Biodiversity Fly fishing Fishing tournaments Privy Council of the United Kingdom