The Farquhar Group
Farquhar Group is about 770km (700 mi) south west of Mahe. It consists of two coralline atolls, Providence and Farquhar, one separate island, St Pierre and a submerged reef, the Wizard Reef.
Similarly to the Aldabra Group of islands, Farquhar also has been submerged and emerged several times over the past tens of thousands of years. The last time they were submerged was about 125,000 years ago. They were discovered in 1501 by Joao da Nova, a Portuguese explorer. The group of islands were under British control until 1976 when they became part of Seychelles at the time of independence. |
The Islands
The Farquhar AtollIt is the most southerly point of Seychelles, closer to Madagascar than to Mahe.
It comprises ten islands, two lager and eight small islets. The two main islands, North and South island are the largest, making up 97 percent of the 178 km2 landmass. The atoll was named after Sir Robert Farquhar, the first governor of Mauritius in 1824. However the owners of these islands were based in Mauritius, in 1881 the authorities in Seychelles suggested Farquhar, along with several other outer islands, be administered from Victoria. |
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Marine LifeThe abundance of some grouper species is about three times greater than in the north Amirantes and up to thirty times that of the granitic. In particular, the density of Napoleon wrasse may be the highest in the world.
On the edge of the reef, at certain times of year, there are spawning aggregations of thousands of camouflage grouper and brown-marbled grouper. This is in sharp contrast to other parts of the world where many aggregations have totally collapsed. Farquhar is also an important nesting site for turtles. Surveys conducted in the early 1980s when adult turtles were intensively hunted estimated 400-450 nesting green turtle females and 20-35 hawksbills per annum. A survey conducted in 2007 suggests increases in nesting numbers thanks to the protected status of turtles in Seychelles since 1994. |
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