Sable Island National Park Reserve

Sable Island National Park Reserve
IUCN category II (national park)
Sable Island National Park Reserve
Location Halifax Regional Municipality  Nova Scotia
 Canada
Nearest city Halifax, Nova Scotia
Coordinates 43°57′00″N 59°54′57″W / 43.95000°N 59.91583°W / 43.95000; -59.91583Coordinates: 43°57′00″N 59°54′57″W / 43.95000°N 59.91583°W / 43.95000; -59.91583
Area 34 km2 (13 sq mi)
Established June 20, 2013
Governing body Parks Canada

Sable Island National Park Reserve is a Canadian national park reserve comprising Sable Island, 300 kilometres (190 mi) southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about 175 kilometres (109 mi) southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean.[1] Notable for its Sable Island Ponies, the island is protected under the National Parks Act, requiring permission from Parks Canada to visit. The establishment of the park reserve means that the island, and the surrounding area within 1 nautical mile, cannot be drilled for oil or natural gas.[1] Sable Island became a National Park Reserve in June 2013,[2] with the intention of becoming a national park once Aboriginal Canadian (Mi'kmaq) land claims are settled.

Ecology

Sable Island Pony and foal

Sable Island derived its name from the French word for "sand". It lacks natural trees, being covered instead with marram grass and other low-growing vegetation. In 1901, the federal government planted over 80,000 trees in an attempt to stabilize the soil; all died. Subsequent plantings resulted in the survival of a single Scots pine. Although planted in the 1960s, it is only a few feet tall.[3]

The island is home to over 400 free-roaming Sable Island Ponies, protected by law from human interference. This feral horse population is likely descended from horses confiscated from Acadians during the Great Expulsion and left on the island by Thomas Hancock, Boston merchant and uncle of John Hancock.[4] In the past, excess horses were rounded up, shipped off the island, and sold, many used in coal mines on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. In 1960 the Canadian Government gave the horse population full protection from human interference.

Harbour and grey seals breed on the island's shores. Seal counts from the 1960s for the grey seal population estimated 200–300 pups born at that time on the island, but surveys from as recent as 2003–2004 estimated the number of pups born in that season at 50,000.[5] The seals are occasionally predated by the various shark species that inhabit the waters nearby. Unusual 'corkscrew' bite wounds on dead seals suggest that the Greenland shark is probably responsible for most attacks here.[6] Several large bird colonies are resident, including the Arctic tern and Ipswich sparrow, a subspecies of the Savannah sparrow which breeds only on the Island. Many other species are resident, migratory, or transient, blown out to sea in storms and returned to land out of their natural range.

It was formerly believed the freshwater sponge Heteromeyenia macouni was found only in ponds on the island. However, it is now considered to be the same species as Racekiela ryderi, found elsewhere.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Sable Island named national park". CBC News. 2011-10-17. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
  2. ↑ "MP defends decision to vote for Sable Island national park". CBC News. 19 June 2013.
  3. ↑ Green Horse Society - Fall Colours on Sable Island
  4. ↑ "Free as the Wind: How the Horses Came to Sable Island", Sable Island: A story of Survival website Nova Scotia Museum
  5. ↑ Sable Island: Photographic Survey of Grey Seal Pups (Feb 2004)
  6. ↑ Shark Predation on Sable Island Seals (July 2008)
  7. ↑ van Soest, R. (2014). R. W. M. Van Soest, N. Boury-Esnault, J. N. A. Hooper, K. Rützler, N. J. de Voogd, B. Alvarez de Glasby, E. Hajdu, A. B. Pisera, R. Manconi, C. Schoenberg, D. Janussen, K. R. Tabachnick, M. Klautau, B. Picton, M. Kelly & J. Vacelet, eds. "Heteromeyenia macouni MacKay, 1900". World Porifera database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
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