Pedro Bank
Encyclopedia
Pedro Bank is a large bank of sand
and coral
, partially covered with seagrass
, about 80 km south and southwest of Jamaica
, rising steeply from a seabed of 800 metres depth. It slopes gently from Pedro Cays to the west and north with depths from 13 to 30 metres. The total area of the bank within the 100 metre isobath measures 8 040 km². The area of a depth to 40 metres is triangular, 70 km long east-west, and 43 km wide. 2 400 km² are less than 20 m deep. With its islet
s, cay
s and rocks, a total land area of 270,000 m², it is the location of one of the two offshore island groups of Jamaica, the other one being the Morant Cays
(Jamaica also has nearshore islands like the Port Royal Cays
). The bank is centered at 17°06′N 78°20′W.
Pedro Bank is a part of submarine Nicaragua
Rise, which stretches from Cabo Gracias a Dios
through Rosalind Bank
to Jamaica
.
Pedro Bank was annexed by the United Kingdom
in 1863 and added to Jamaica in 1882.
Pedro Bank was originally named La Vibora (the Viper) by Spanish mariners because its shallow reefs, rocks and shoals are laid out in the shape of a gigantic serpent. It was once a busy and treacherous shipping passage used by seafaring Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; archaeologists estimate there are over 300 shipwrecks on the Bank.
Today the Bank is known for its economic and cultural importance; it is the main harvesting ground for Queen Conch in the Caribbean and is highly valued by Jamaica’s fishing community who have been operating on the Bank and using its small Cays as a base since the 1920s.
s, lie about midway along the southern edge of the eastern half of Pedro Bank. The sparse land vegetation consists of six species of plants, none of which are endemic
. The cays are regionally important seabird nesting and roosting areas (masked boobies, roseate terns and others) and also provide several endangered turtle species such as hawksbills and loggerheads with nesting grounds. The islets yield some guano and coconuts. More importantly, they represent the primary harvesting area for the largest export of Queen Conch from the Caribbean region. They were occupied by the British
in 1863 and made part of Jamaica in 1882. They are considered part of the parish of Kingston
, for all purposes except taxes.
In a wider sense, some over-water rocks, small outcrops of oolitic
limestone
over which water breaks, are considered part of the Pedro Cays:
There are several submarine features on Pedro Bank, such as:
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
and coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
, partially covered with seagrass
Seagrass
Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...
, about 80 km south and southwest of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, rising steeply from a seabed of 800 metres depth. It slopes gently from Pedro Cays to the west and north with depths from 13 to 30 metres. The total area of the bank within the 100 metre isobath measures 8 040 km². The area of a depth to 40 metres is triangular, 70 km long east-west, and 43 km wide. 2 400 km² are less than 20 m deep. With its islet
Islet
An islet is a very small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
s, cay
Cay
A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...
s and rocks, a total land area of 270,000 m², it is the location of one of the two offshore island groups of Jamaica, the other one being the Morant Cays
Morant Cays
Morant Cays is an offshore island group 51 km SSE off Morant Point, Jamaica. They are one of two offshore island groups belonging to Jamaica, the other ones being the Pedro Cays...
(Jamaica also has nearshore islands like the Port Royal Cays
Port Royal Cays
The Port Royal Cays is a small group of uninhabited islands or cays off Port Royal, Jamaica, located at and arranged in the shape of an atoll with a diameter between 4 and 5 km, and a total area of 12 km². The land area is about 0.03 km²...
). The bank is centered at 17°06′N 78°20′W.
Pedro Bank is a part of submarine Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
Rise, which stretches from Cabo Gracias a Dios
Cabo Gracias a Dios
Cabo Gracias a Dios is a cape located in the middle of the east coast of Central America, within what is variously called the Mosquito Coast and La Mosquitia...
through Rosalind Bank
Rosalind Bank
Rosalind Bank, also called Rosalinda or Rosa Linda Bank, is a large, completely submerged atoll that lies with its southern extremity 269 km ENE of Cabo Gracias a Dios, at . It is the culmination of an area of coral reef some 300 km long that is stretching out eastward from Cabo Gracias a Dios...
to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
Pedro Bank was annexed by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1863 and added to Jamaica in 1882.
Pedro Bank was originally named La Vibora (the Viper) by Spanish mariners because its shallow reefs, rocks and shoals are laid out in the shape of a gigantic serpent. It was once a busy and treacherous shipping passage used by seafaring Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; archaeologists estimate there are over 300 shipwrecks on the Bank.
Today the Bank is known for its economic and cultural importance; it is the main harvesting ground for Queen Conch in the Caribbean and is highly valued by Jamaica’s fishing community who have been operating on the Bank and using its small Cays as a base since the 1920s.
Cays, Rocks and Reefs
Pedro Cays, at 17°00′N 77°50′W, four small, flat (2 to 5 metres high), low-lying and mostly uninhabited cayCay
A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...
s, lie about midway along the southern edge of the eastern half of Pedro Bank. The sparse land vegetation consists of six species of plants, none of which are endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
. The cays are regionally important seabird nesting and roosting areas (masked boobies, roseate terns and others) and also provide several endangered turtle species such as hawksbills and loggerheads with nesting grounds. The islets yield some guano and coconuts. More importantly, they represent the primary harvesting area for the largest export of Queen Conch from the Caribbean region. They were occupied by the British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in 1863 and made part of Jamaica in 1882. They are considered part of the parish of Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, for all purposes except taxes.
- Northeast Cay (Top Cay), 75,000 m², at 17°03′N 77°46′W, is covered with brush and has a group of palm trees growing on its northwest side. There is a lighted beaconBeaconA beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of...
in the north. - Middle Cay, 40,000 m², at 17°01′N 77°47′W is covered with low grass and bushes. A Jamaican Coast GuardCoast guardA coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with...
station and a fishermen's camp with number of huts and a large shed are in the southeast. - Southwest Cay (Bird Cay), 152,000 m², at 16°59′N 77°49′W, the largest of the Pedro Cays, is a protected bird sanctuary, with a large tree.
- South Cay (Sandy Cay), 2,000 m², at 16°57′N 77°50′W, consists of coral and shells. This is the southernmost point of land of Jamaica.
In a wider sense, some over-water rocks, small outcrops of oolitic
Oolite
Oolite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites...
limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
over which water breaks, are considered part of the Pedro Cays:
- Portland Rock (also called Eastern Pedro Cay), at 17°06′N 77°27′W, lies about 63 km SSW of Portland PointPortland PointPortland Point is the southernmost point in Jamaica. It is half-way along the island's south coast at the end of a hilly peninsula in Clarendon. A large bay, Portland Bight, lies to the east of it.-External links:**Photos:...
, the southern extremity of Jamaica. The rock consists of two summits that lie in an east-west direction. - Blower Rock, at 17°03′N 77°31′W, lies 8 km southwest of Portland Rock, and is 0.6 m high.
- Shannon Rock, at 17°02′N 77°40′W, lies about 15 km WSWWSWWSW may refer to:*WSW, the SAME code for a Winter Storm Warning*Wall Street Week, a business show on the US Public Broadcasting Service *War§ow, a video game*West-Southwest, a compass point for "Boxing the compass"...
of Blower Rock. It is 0.5 m high.
There are several submarine features on Pedro Bank, such as:
- Banner Reef, at 16°52′N 78°06′W, awash and 2.4 km long, lies 26 km WSWWSWWSW may refer to:*WSW, the SAME code for a Winter Storm Warning*Wall Street Week, a business show on the US Public Broadcasting Service *War§ow, a video game*West-Southwest, a compass point for "Boxing the compass"...
of South Cay. - Southwest Rock, at 16°48′N 78°11′W, lies about 9 km southwest of Banner Reef.
- Willsteed Rock, at 17°08′N 77°37′W, with a depth of 12, lies 13 km northwest of Blower Rock.
- Doyle Shoal, at 17°09′N 77°33′W, with a depth of 14 m, lies 13 km NNWNNWNNW may refer to:*National Nurses Week, the week of May 6 through May 12 proclaimed by Richard Nixon in 1974 as a period for Americans to recognize nurses' service and contributions...
of Blower Rock. - Powell Knoll, at 16°47′N 77°43′W, lies 32 km southwest of Shannon Rock, with a lowest depth of 28.8 m. It is the southernmost feature of Jamaica, not counting Alice ShoalAlice ShoalAlice Shoal is a wholly submerged reef, located in the western Caribbean Sea, about 260 kilometres southwest of Jamaica. The mainland of Colombia lies 740 km away to the southeast....
, which is claimed by Jamaica but considered part of ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
.