Sand island (Canada)
The island of Sand is small a Canadian island located at 180 km in the south east of the coasts of the Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean, par.
Geography
The Sand island is a bar of Sable in the form of 38 km crescent long, but never broader than 2 km. It emerges from a vast zone of top and hollows of the continental shelf. This situation, combined with a frequent fog and a position on the most direct way enters the coasts North-American and European, fact of the Sand island a maritime cemetery, more than 300 shipwrecks there having been indexed.The Sand island is covered with Herbe S and low vegetation. It is thought that it was formed starting from great quantities of sand and gravels deposited on the continental shelf at the end of the glacial last era. The shape of the island changes continuously because of the strong winds and the storms.
The contrasted effects of the Running of Labrador and the Gulf Stream cause the many fogs in this area. Sometimes in winter, the influence of the Gulf Stream gives to the Sand island the highest temperatures of Canada.
Fauna
The Sand island shelters approximately 250 wild horses, protected from any human influence. The origin of these animals is not known; one of the current theories explains why they are the descendants of horses confiscated with the Acadie NS during their expulsion and given up on the island by Thomas Hancock, a merchant of Boston.In the past, the wild horses in excess were captured and transported in the coal mines of the island of Cape-Breton the, sold or euthanasias. The colony was not disturbed since several tens of years, put besides some parachutings of hay during certain winter months. These actions were stopped in order to let the population of the horses stabilize itself naturally, although the subject causes sometimes debates between the partisans of the maintenance of the horses on the island and lawyers of their displacement in order to leave the island Sand turn over in its natural state.
The Sand island also counts several colonies of birds, the Arctic terns and a subspecies of the endemic bunting of the meadows of the island ( Passerculus sandwichensis princeps ). common seals and gray seal reproduce there. A species of sponge of fresh water, Heteromeyenia macouni , is endogenous with the ponds of the island.
History
The first documented forwarding of the island of Sand was carried out by the Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes which traversed the zone in 1520-1521. An attempt at colonization by France at the end of the 16th century failed, to see: Troilus de Mesgouez. A Phare was built in the years 1790 by the British government and the team charged of its maintenance constituted the first permanent inhabitants of the island. At the beginning of the 20th century, the company Marconi establishes there a station of Télégraphie without wire and the Canadian government a Weather station.Until the beginning of the 21e century, the island had two headlights, one in the west, the other in the east, and sheltered the families of the respective guards, as well as the team of a rescue station. The headlights are from now on automatic, but the services of the ministries of Environnement Canada and Pêches and Océans Canada take weather and atmospheric measurements in a station occupied permanently, because of single situation of the Sand island.
The Constitution of Canada specifies that the island is under the responsibility of the federal government. The island is administratively part of the regional municipality and electoral district of Halifax, although Halifax is distant of 300 km.
In order to preserve the fragile ecology of the island, the specific authorization of the Canadian coastal Garde is necessary to unload there. The Canadian Armed forces patrol the zone uninterrupted, partly because of the presence of oil Natural gas and thus of platform and a underwater Pipeline. The Héliport of the island can be used as a basis urgently for possible aid operations at sea.
See too
External bonds
- '' Sable Island Green Horse Society ''
- '' Sable Island Safeguarding Trust ''
- '' Virtual Museum Canada ''