Pigeon Island National Park is one of the two

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

s of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The national park is situated 1 km off the coast of Nilaveli, a coastal town in Eastern Province, encompassing a total area of 471.429 hectares. The island's name derives from the rock pigeon which has colonized it. The national park contains some of the best remaining coral reefs of Sri Lanka. Pigeon Island was designated as a sanctuary in 1963. In 2003 it was re-designated as a

. This national park is the 17th in Sri Lanka. The island was used as a

shooting range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, sports venue, venue or playing field, field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or shooting sport, competitions. So ...

during the colonial era. Pigeon Island is one of the several protected areas affected by the

Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

in 2004.

Physical features

Pigeon Island consists of two islands; large pigeon island and small pigeon island. The large pigeon island is fringed by a coral reef, and is about 200 m long and 100 m wide. Its highest point is 44.8 m above mean sea level.The Green Movement of Sri Lanka Inc, Pigeon Island Marine National Park signage, Nilaveli Beach The small pigeon island is surrounded by rocky islets. The national park is situated within the

dry zone An alcohol-free zone is a geographic area, location or establishment where the public consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited. Alcohol-free zones have been established in some areas to address problems with drinking- and binge dr ...

of Sri Lanka. The mean annual temperature is around . The annual rainfall ranges between while most of the rain is received during the North-eastern monsoon season from October to March.

Flora and fauna

The large pigeon island's coral reef fauna is dominated by ''

Acropora ''Acropora'' is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. ''Acropora'' species are some of the major reef corals r ...

'' spp. with some ''

Montipora ''Montipora'' is a genus of Scleractinian corals in the phylum Cnidaria. Members of the genus ''Montipora'' may exhibit many different growth morphologies. With eighty five known species, ''Montipora'' is the second most species rich coral genus ...

'' spp. '' Faviidae'', '' Mussidae'' and ''Poritidae'' species dominate the coral reef around the rocky islets. Areas with

soft corals Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different f ...

such as ''Sinularia'', ''Lobophyton'', and ''Sarcophyton'' can also be observed. The coral reef harbors many vertebrates and invertebrates. Many of the 100 species of corals and 300 coral reef fishes recorded around the Trincomalee area are found in the national park. Juvenile and adult

blacktip reef shark The blacktip reef shark (''Carcharhinus melanopterus'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, which can be easily identified by the prominent black tips on its fins (especially on the first dorsal fin and its caudal fin). ...

are seen around the shallow coral areas. Hawksbill turtle, green turtle and

olive ridley The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in th ...

are the visiting sea turtles of the coral reef. The island is important breeding ground for the rock pigeon.

Conservation

Fishing and ornamental fish collection are the main economic usages of the coral reef. The pigeon island is also used as a scuba diving site. Uncontrolled tourism has resulted in reef degradation and loss of biodiversity and fish density. Scientific research was hindered due to the civil war in the past two decades. A proposed pier between the mainland coast and the island has attracted criticism.

References

{{authority control Landforms of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka National parks of Sri Lanka Protected areas established in 2003 Protected areas in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka Uninhabited islands of Sri Lanka

Physical features

Flora and fauna

Conservation

See also

References