St. Brandon

Cargados Carajos
Native name: Saint Brandon
Geography
Location Indian Ocean
Coordinates 16°35′S 59°37′E / 16.583°S 59.617°E / -16.583; 59.617Coordinates: 16°35′S 59°37′E / 16.583°S 59.617°E / -16.583; 59.617
Total islands 22
Major islands Albatross Island, Raphael, Avocaré, Cocos Island and Île du Sud
Area 1.3 km2 (0.50 sq mi)
Administration
Mauritius
Largest settlement Île Raphael (pop. 40)
Demographics
Population 63 (transient) (2000)
Pop. density 48 /km2 (124 /sq mi)

Saint Brandon, also known as the Cargados Carajos Shoals, is an Indian Ocean archipelago about 430 kilometres (270 mi) northeast of Mauritius consisting of a number of sand banks, shoals and islets. Saint Brandon consists of five island groups, with about 28–40 islands and islets in total, depending on seasonal storms and related sand movements.[1] There are 22 named islands and shoals. The archipelago is low-lying and is prone to substantial submersion in severe weather. It has an aggregate land area estimated variously at 1.3 km2 (0.50 sq mi) and 500 acres (2.0 km2).[1] Economic activity in the region is limited to fishing on the very extensive shallow bank covering approximately 900 sq mi (2,300 km2) around the islands. By the early 19th century, most of the islands were in use as fishing stations. Geographically, the archipelago is part of the Mascarene Islands and is situated on the Mascarene Plateau formed by the separation of the Mauritia microcontinent during the separation of India and Madagascar about 60 million years ago.

Politically, Saint Brandon is part of the territory of Mauritius and is grouped within the Outer Islands of Mauritius along with Agaléga, Tromelin (sovereignty disputed with France) and the Chagos Archipelago (sovereignty disputed with Britain), including Diego Garcia.[2][1] The Outer Islands are defined as "all the islands comprised in the State of Mauritius other than the Islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues". They are administered from Port Louis by the Outer Island Development Corporation (OIDC), which is responsible for their management and development and reports to the prime minister's office.[1][3] Under a judgment by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on 30 July 2008, 13 of the outer islands were deemed to have been a permanent grant to the Raphael Fishing Company Ltd. [4] [5]

The reef measures more than 50 kilometres (31 mi) from north to south, and is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide, cut by three passes. The reef area is 190 km2 (73 sq mi). The islands have a small transient population, mostly fishermen, counted at 63 people on census night in 2001.[6][1] The bulk of this transitory population, approximately 40 people, live on Île Raphael, with smaller settlements existing on Avocaré, Coco, and Île du Sud. A settlement on Albatross Island was abandoned in 1988.[7] The islands are rich in marine flora and fauna, but on some islands the latter have been severely affected by the uncontrolled presence of rats.[1]

Geography

In the past, Cargados Carajos was a large, volcanic island (part of the Mascarenes, caused by the Réunion hotspot). Over time however, the island eroded until it became submerged and a coral atoll was left behind. The archipelago is part of the Mascarene plateau, a submarine plateau north and east of Madagascar that is the second largest in the Indian Ocean after the Kerguelen Plateau.

Individual islets on the reef include, roughly north to south, the following:

Satellite image of Cargados Carajos

A number of unnamed islands and sand cays complete the Cargados. The total number of islands on the reef is close to 40.

Siren Island, Île du Sud, Pearl Island (Île Perle), and Frigate Island (Île Frégate) are west of the reef, while North Island (Île du Nord) is about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) northeast of the northern tip of the reef.

Albatross Island, about 18 kilometres (11 mi) north, is geographically a separate single coral island at location 16°15'S, 59°35'E.

Albatross Island is the highest (its highest point is 6 m (20 ft) above sea level) and the largest of the islands in the group, with an area of 1.01 km2 (0.39 sq mi), followed by Raphael, Tortue, Avocaré, Coco Island and Île du Sud.

The main settlement is on Île Raphael, which is held by the Raphael Fishing Company together with twelve other islands (l'île du Sud (or l'île Boisées), Petit Fou, l'Avocaire, l'île aux Fous (Fous, Ile Fou), l'île du Gouvernement, Petit Mapou, Grand Mapou, La Baleine, l'île aux Cocos, Verronge, l'île aux Bois and Baleines Rocks) under a permanent lease [8]. Île Raphael can have up to 35 resident employees and a coast guard and meteorological station (with eight residents in 1996). Smaller settlements exist on Avocaré, Coco, and Sud; the settlement on Albatross was abandoned in 1988.

Ecology

Cargados comprises about 190 km2 (73 sq mi) of reefs. It has perhaps the largest algal ridge in the Indian Ocean. Coconut trees can be found on a few islands as well as bushes and grass.

The islands are covered with white granular sand from eroded coral, and a thick layer of guano can be found in most places. Sea turtles take advantage of the low population of the islands and lay eggs on their beaches.

The reefs of Mauritius have been overfished and have suffered from the effects of tourism and other development. Mauritius plans to establish two marine reserves of coral reefs that were proposed for protection in 1974.[9] This may demonstrate the pace of protection of natural resources in the area, slowed by the complications of new independence.

On some islands, rats, rabbits and chicken are damaging the native fauna which consist mainly of turtles and birds and it is unclear how much longer the archipelago will remain a refuge without international protection. The Mauritius economy is among the world's fastest growing. However, there is pressure to increase tourism. Sugar, introduced by the French, is Mauritius's main crop and represents 17 percent of the country's exports, but the price of sugar is dropping and increased tourism is seen as an important way to diversify the economy.

In 2010, a 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 turtles Chelonia mydas. Hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata were also present. Analyses of 30 different islets that make up the atoll showed that the seabird species mostly partitioned their use of islets based on islet size, with four species preferring larger islets and two species preferring smaller islets. Alien species introduced historically are still present and other threats, such as shipwrecks, remain. We propose conservation and other measures that should adequately protect the birds, turtles and coral reef by treating the atoll as a system."[10]

St Brandon has been proposed for a Marine Protected Area by the World Bank, has been identified as an ‘Important Bird Area’ in Africa by BirdLife International, as a Marine Important Bird Area under the Nairobi Convention, and a Key Biodiversity Area by the CEPF. [11]

In 2011, The Ministry of Environment & Sustainable Development issued the "Mauritius Environment Outlook Report" which stated that "There is an urgent need to allocate more resources for a closer monitoring of the environmental assets of the islands." It further recommended that St Brandon be declared a Marine Protected Area.

Raphael Fishing Company consults with and works closely with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation in protecting and promoting the unique ecology of St. Brandon. In 2013, one of Raphael Fishing Company’s stakeholders was awarded the President's Medal[12] by HIH Princess Takamodo of Japan for being ‘a strong supporter of the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation, encouraging and supporting their application to become a Bird Life Partner, and sponsoring their delegate to the 2013 World Conference’; for 'core contributions and service to the Bird Life Partnership'; for 'being a major contributor to Bird Life's core work through unrestricted gifts as Founder Patron’

In April 2016, The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd., financed and organised a fact-finding mission by some of the world's experts.[13][14]

In 2016, a documentary was made in French on Conservation on the Raphael Fishing Company islands held on permanent lease. [15]

History

Cargados Carajos
Location of Cargados Carajos in the Indian Ocean

The atoll may have been discovered in the 7th century by Arabian sailors. It was named in 1506 by Portuguese sailors who put ashore for provisioning on their way to India. Pirates have used the islands as a refuge. In 1598, the Dutch occupied the islands. Mauritius and its associated islands were colonised by the French in about 1715, granted by the King of France to the Compagnie des Judes in 1726 but retroceded to the French Crown in 1765. In 1806 Napoleon ordered the proclamation of the Civil Code as the Law of Mauritius and its islands. When, in 1810, Mauritius and its islands were taken by force of arms by Britain, the articles of capitulation confirmed to the inhabitants, in accordance with British constitutional practice, the continuance of their own laws, i.e. the Code Napoleon as it then stood.

The islands became part of a British Crown Colony in 1810. In 1820 the then Governor General of Mauritius granted jouissances in respect of the five groups as follows. He granted to Ozile Majestre alone a joussance exclusive over one group, the Iles Boisées, and to two individuals, Ozile Majestre and Dominique Bétuel, jouissances en partage over another group of six islands (Petits Foux, Lavocaire and four others). He granted three further jouissances exclusives to respectively M. Burceret (La Baleine and l’île aux Cocos), Mme. Veuve Raphaël (l’île Raphaël) and Mr William Stone (Ile Veronge and Ile aux Bois). All these jouissances were unlimited in time. Under a deed of transfer dated 4 September 1900, M. Louis Souchon, apparently the then owner of the jouissances relating to Iles Boisées and the six islands, sold the jouissances to the St Brandon Fish & Manure Co. Ltd. Under a second deed dated 20 September 1900 The Mauritius Cooperative Engrais Chimiques Co. Ltd., acting as owner of the remaining three jouissances, sold these to the St Brandon Fish & Manure Co. Ltd., which thus acquired all five groups of the St Brandon Archipelago. The Colonial Government was asked to give its consent to such sales, and on 19 October 1900 notified the purchaser company that it had no objection to the transfers provided that (in translation) “the jouissance which the said company possesses of the above islands and islets be converted in accordance with section 26 [of the 1874 Ordinance] into a permanent lease”. The Government’s requirement was accepted by the purchaser company and led to the Deed of 11 October 1901. The Deed, described as a “permanent lease by the Colonial Government to the St Brandon Fish & Manure Company Limited” was executed on behalf of the government by the Surveyor-General, M.de Coriolis, who on the government’s behalf ratified the two September 1900 sales to the purchaser company. The Deed formally declared that “… the jouissance currently held by the St Brandon Fish & Manure Company Ltd of the islands and islets referred to above be converted to a permanent lease in accordance with the above Ordinance, [with the company] claiming the rights of those to whom the Government of Mauritius granted it originally” and that the lease was to commence as from 2 October 1901. [16] [17] . The “permanent lease” contained a number of conditions. In particular, the St Brandon Company was to export all the guano it found on the islands and to pay the Government a royalty of 5 rupees per ton. All the produce of the islands was to be sent to Mauritius. Furthermore “les clauses & conditions contenues aux actes de concession de la suds: jouissance sont maintenues dans leur intégralité & lieront la Société … envers le Gouvernement Colonial….” The company was also to pay the Government an annual sum of one rupee, which was due on 2 October each year.

In more modern times the islands were mined for phosphates derived from guano. Mining ceased in the mid-20th century.

The St. Brandon archipelago was surveyed by British colonial authorities on 31 March 1911 as part of the Census of Mauritius. This found a total population of 110, made up of 97 men (86 non-Indian and 11 Indian) and 13 women (10 non-Indian and 3 Indian).[18] While the archipelago likely had a resident population at this point, as indicated by the 8 children under the age of 15 and the 5 people over the age of 60, there was also likely a seasonal component, with the largest population segment being men between 20 and 35.[19] 73 men worked in fishing, 11 at the guano mines and 4 were ship's carpenters.[20] Only one (male) person was recorded as having been born on St. Brandon.[21]

The 1911 census reported that three of St. Brandon's 39 houses were built of stone and eight of wood, with 28 built of thatch. Most of these were single-room dwellings, but 10 had two rooms and one had three. There were also eight shops or stores and a one-room chapel.[22]

Ten years later, the population had plummeted to just 22, as reported by the 1921 census. There were 21 were men (ages 19–48) and just one woman, a married Catholic, aged 31. 14 people were identified as part of the "general population", with 11 of them born on Mauritius, one on Rodrigues and two in the Seychelles. In addition, there were 3 Indo-Mauritanians and 5 "other Indians" from Madras, Calcutta and Colombo.[23]

The most common employment on St. Brandon in 1922 was agriculture, with a manager, assistant manager and 11 labourers. Only two young men were recorded as working as fishermen. Three men worked as carpenters, one as a mason, one as a shoemaker and another as a domestic servant. There was no indication that the guano mines were operating.[24]

In 1925 the liquidators of the St Brandon Company sold the right to the permanent lease to France Ulcoq who sold it in 1928 to the Raphael Fishing Co Ltd (“Raphael Fishing”).

Mauritius, and its islands, became an independent state within the Commonwealth in 1968 and a republic in 1992. .

In 2011, The Ministry of Environment & Sustainable Development issued the "Mauritius Environment Outlook Report" which stated that "For the Outer Islands of ... St. Brandon, major improvements are required to promote development, environmental protection and judicious use of natural resources."

Shipwrecks

Shipwrecks on the low-lying, rocky reefs of St. Brandon have been recorded since as early as 1662.

On 12 February 1662, the Dutch East Indiaman sailing ship Arnhem wrecked itself on the rocks at St. Brandon.[25][26][27]

In July 1818, the sailing vessel Cabalva, owned by the East India Company, struck the reef at St. Brandon and was destroyed.[28][29][30]

On 15 September 1845, the sailing ship Letitia ran aground on Frigate islet.[31]

On 3 October l969, the Russian tugboat Argus itself on the reef at St. Brandon. 38 men were rescued by local fishermen.[32]

On 29 November 2014, during the second leg of the 2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race, the sailboat Team Vestas Wind ran aground on St. Brandon.[33] The crew was safely rescued,[34] and a complicated salvage operation succeeded in removing the wreck from the reef.[35] [36]

On 1 February 2015, the fishing vessel Kha Yang, with 250,000 litres of fuel in its tanks, ran aground on the reef of St. Brandon.[37] 20 crew were rescued shortly after its grounding,[38] and a salvage operation pumped the fuel from its tanks a few weeks later.[39]

Population figures

Resident Transient Total Notes
1861 35All were men.[40][41]
1871 9All were men.[40][42][41]
1881 6All were men.[40][41]
1891 0[43][44]
1901 8785 men and 2 women. 54 men and one woman were from the "general population"; 29 men were Indo-Mauritanians, and two men and one woman were "other Indians"[44]
1911 110[45]
1921 2214 people were identified as part of the "general population", with 3 Indo-Mauritanians and 5 "other Indians". 21 were men and just one was a woman.[46]
1931 61All were men, of whom nine were married and one was an ethnic Indian. Fishing was the occupation of 59 of the men, while two were domestic servants. Most were Catholics, but one Muslim lived on the island.[47]
1944 93All were men, two of them ethnic Indians, and the remainder of the "general population".[48]
1952 136124 men (one of whom was ethnically Chinese) and 12 women.[49]
1962 90[50]
1972 128[51]
1983 137[52]
2000 06363No permanent residents. Only transient population.[53]
2011 0 No permanent residents. Transient population not reported.[54]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 PRB: OIDC.
  2. ↑ MLGOI St Brandon.
  3. ↑ "Districts of Mauritius". Statoids.
  4. ↑ Privy Council Judgment 30 July 2008 - Raphaël Fishing Company Ltd.
  5. ↑ Le bail permanent de Raphaël Fishing confirmé sur St.-Brandon
  6. ↑ "Introduction". Central Statistics Office, Mauritius. 2001. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "St Brandon Island - Cargados Carajos - Mauritius Attractions". mauritiusattractions.com. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  8. ↑ Privy Council Judgment 30 July 2008 - Raphaël Fishing Company Ltd.,
  9. ↑ The Developing Western Indian Ocean (WIO) Coral Reef Programme
  10. ↑ Protection of marine birds and turtles at St Brandon’s Rock, Indian Ocean, requires conservation of the entire atoll
  11. ↑ Developing a vision for St Brandon
  12. ↑ "St Brandon : Core contributions and service to the BirdLife Partnership honoured with President’s Medal". Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  13. ↑ "DÉVELOPPEMENT DURABLE: Raphaël Fishing investit dans la conservation à St Brandon - Le Mauricien". Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  14. ↑ Fact Finding Trip to St Brandon’s
  15. ↑ "St Brandon : Video on Conservation and the Raphael Fishing Company by Ananda Pictures.". Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  16. ↑ Privy Council Judgment 30 July 2008 - Raphaël Fishing Company Ltd.
  17. ↑ Le bail permanent de Raphaël Fishing confirmé sur St.-Brandon
  18. ↑ 1911 Census, p. iv, Abstracts iv.
  19. ↑ 1911 Census, p. Abstracts xcvi, xcviii.
  20. ↑ 1911 Census, p. Abstracts cxii.
  21. ↑ 1911 Census, p. Abstracts cxvii.
  22. ↑ 1911 Census, p. Abstracts cxxxi–cxxxiii.
  23. ↑ 1921 Census, pp. 13,15,16, cciii–ccvii.
  24. ↑ 1921 Census, pp. cciii–ccvii.
  25. ↑ J. R. Bruijn; F. S. Gaastra; Ivo Schöffer (1979). Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries: Outward-bound voyages from the Netherlands to Asia and the Cape (1595-1794). Nijhoff.
  26. ↑ Perry J. Moree (January 1998). A Concise History of Dutch Mauritius, 1598-1710: A Fruitful and Healthy Land. Kegan Paul International. ISBN 978-0-7103-0609-8.
  27. ↑ Anthony S. Cheke; Julian Pender Hume (2008). Lost Land of the Dodo: An Ecological History of Mauritius, Réunion & Rodrigues. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14186-3.
  28. ↑ Thomas Byerley; John Timbs (1829). The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. J. Limbird. pp. 389–.
  29. ↑ On a coral reef. 1869. pp. 4–.
  30. ↑ C W. Francken (1819). A narrative of the loss of the East India company's ship Cabalva. pp. 1–.
  31. ↑ Various (28 February 2013). The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle for 1846. Cambridge University Press. pp. 180–. ISBN 978-1-108-05434-8.
  32. ↑ Norman Hooke (1989). Modern shipping disasters, 1963-1987. Lloyd's of London Press.
  33. ↑ "Grounded". Volvo Ocean Race official website. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  34. ↑ "Bad Words". Sailing Anarchy. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  35. ↑ Shipwrecked In A Round-The-World Race | Popular Science
  36. ↑ A Twenty-First-Century Shipwreck
  37. ↑ https://www.lexpress.mu/article/258407/echouage-dun-bateau-peche-une-catastrophe-ecologique-menace-saint-brandon
  38. ↑ http://www.lemauricien.com/article/au-large-saint-brandon-naufrage-d-bateau-peche
  39. ↑ https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2015/6507/fv-kha-yang-aground-salvage-under-way/
  40. 1 2 3 1901 Census, p. 168.
  41. 1 2 3 1881 Census, pp. 481–482.
  42. ↑ 1871 Census, Part 2, p.2.
  43. ↑ Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 1 April 1892, pp. 38,41
  44. 1 2 Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 21 March 1902, p. 168
  45. ↑ Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 1912, p. iv
  46. ↑ Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 1921, p. 13,15,16
  47. ↑ Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 1931, p. lxii–lxiii
  48. ↑ Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 1944, p. 3
  49. ↑ Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 1 June 1953, p. 6
  50. ↑ Census of Mauritius and its Dependencies (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Census Commission for Mauritius and its Dependencies, 1962, p. 42–43
  51. ↑ Preliminary Results of the 1983 Population Census (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Central Statistical Office, January 1984, p. 1
  52. ↑ 1983 Housing and Population Census of Mauritius (PDF), 1, Port Louis, Mauritius: Central Statistical Office, October 1984, p. 1
  53. ↑ Population Tables: 2000 Housing and Population Census, Port Louis, Mauritius: Central Statistical Office, November 2001
  54. ↑ Census 2011 Atlas (PDF), Port Louis, Mauritius: Central Statistical Office, 2011, p. 1

Sources

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