Baccalieu Island

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Baccalieu Island is a 5km² uninhabited island at the northern extremities of Conception Bay near the community of Bay de Verde, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is separated from the island of Newfoundland by Baccalieu Tickle, a small strait and an abundant fishing ground.

The name 'Baccalieu' is derived either from the Spanish bacalao or the Basque baccalos, both terms meaning "codfish". It was known to Europeans since at least 1556, when it was drawn on the Gastaldi map as "Bacalaos".^[1].

There were two lighthouses located on Baccalieu Island of which today only one is operational, the Southern End lighthouse station. The lighthouse on the northern end is not now operational and was extinguished in the early 1990's. This lighthouse was replaced as an aid to navigation by an automated light on a skeletal tower. It was originally a brick tower and was later encased in iron.

Tower Height: 36
Height of Focal Plane: 443
Description of Tower: Red, conical cast iron tower.
Date Established: 1859
Date Present Tower Built: 1859
Date Deactivated: 1990s
Current Use: Unknown
Open To Public? No.

Keepers: Four generations of Ryans kept the light at Baccalieu from 1858 to 1950. Other keepers at Baccalieu included Alphonsus and Vincent Keough, Joseph Hatch, Felix Noonan, Eric Blundon and John Hyde.

[edit] Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve

Baccalieu Island is the largest seabird island in Newfoundland and supports the greatest diversity of breeding seabirds in Eastern North America. The island supports the largest known colony of Leach's Storm-Petrel in the world, approximately 40% of the global population and about 70% of the western Atlantic population of this species. It is a nesting area for 11 breeding species:

Atlantic Puffin (45,000 pairs - approximately 12% of the eastern North America population) at Puffin Island;
Black-legged Kittiwake (13,000 - approximately 5 to 7% of the western Atlantic breeding population); and
Northern Gannet (677 pairs - approximately 1.5% of the North American population).
Northern Fulmar
Black Guillemot
Common Murre
Thick-billed Murre
Razorbill
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
The island also includes one of the largest winter populations of Eider in Newfoundland.