Pigeon Island: An EASTERN PARADISE

By Risidra Mendis

ONCE A POPULAR PLACE FREQUENTED by locals and foreigners and fringed by a coral reef off Nilaveli in Trincomalee is the Pigeon Islands National Park. The country has many national parks to boast of. But what makes the Pigeon Islands national park that much more special? It is the only national park in the country to harbour a colony of the beautiful Blue Rock pigeons and contains some of the best remaining coral reefs in the country.

Over 100 species of corals and more than 300 species of reef fish have been identified from the Trincomalee area, and many of these species are found within the Pigeon Island National Park.

Declared a sanctuary in 1963 for the purpose of protecting the birds and preventing rapid environment pollution, Pigeon Islands consisting of 471.4 hectares and the surrounding area within a one-mile radius, including its coral reefs, were declared a National Park by the Department of Wildlife and Conservation (DWC) under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance in 2003 by then Environment Minister Rukman Senanayake.

Environment lawyer Jagath Gunewardene said the Pigeon Islands is probably the last refuge for the blue rock pigeon which is a shy, rare and endangered bird and a subspecies of the European pigeon.

"You have to enter this island by boat. The island was opened in 2002 for tourism. However this resulted in visitors breaking the corals and the birds being disturbed by the noise of the boats. Dynamiting fish practices also caused extensive damage to the islands. But once the government took control of this area, thanks to the navy, the illegal killing of fish was stopped," Gunewardene said.

The Pigeon Island National Park is made up of two small islands, namely Large and Small Pigeon Island located about 1 km offshore. 	 There are several rock outcrops about 300 to 500 metres to the South and Southeast of Large Pigeon Island, while the one on the Southern side is called the 'Salabalas Rocks'. Large Pigeon Island has two small beaches on the South Western and Northern flanks of the island.

The main coral reef is in front of the South Western beach, which is about 200 metres long and 100 metres wide, with a depth of between 1 and 6 metres. Small Pigeon Island is surrounded by rocky reef habitats interspersed with old limestone reef structures and sandy patches.

These coral reefs were some of the few that escaped the 1998 mass coral bleaching event. These coral reefs contain extensive areas of healthy live coral. The main Pigeon Island reef has a live hard coral cover of around 74%. The rocky habitats have a coral cover of around 25% dominated by the families Faviidae, Mussidae and Poritidae. Extensive areas of soft corals (mainly Sinularia, Lobophyton and Sarcophyton spp) are also present.

The National Park is located within the low country dry zone with an annual temperature of around 270 C and annual rainfall between 1000 to 1700 mm. Most of the rain is received during the northeast monsoon from October to February during which the reef area is subjected to strong winds, currents and rough seas.

The protected reef fish Labroides bicolor has been recorded from the reef, while Chlorurus rhakoura which is restricted to Sri Lanka has also been recorded in the reef. The globally endangered Cheilinus undulates is also found in deeper areas of the reef. Juvenile and adult Carcharhinus melanopterus are commonly seen around the shallow coral areas. Three species of globally endangered marine turtles Eretmochelys imbricata, Chelonia mydas and Lepidochelys olivacea are known to visit the reef

Reef areas have extensive turf algae while the island is dominated by dry zone scrub

Traditionally, local communities have been dependant on fishing as a source of income, and many traditional fishing techniques are still in use. In recent times, the reefs and in particular the islands have become popular tourist attractions.

Fishing and ornamental fish collection is the main use of the coral reefs. Nilaveli is an important tourist area and the islands are also used for recreational purposes. The reefs are also used as a site for scuba diving and snorkelling.

Due to the security situation in the area the reefs were not extensively affected by human activities until recently. Since the 2002 ceasefire agreement, the Pigeon Island National Park has become a popular tourist destination, and increased visitation has led to habitat degradation. The reefs are being further threatened by destructive fishing practices.

Uncontrolled tourism has resulted in pollution, collection of corals and other marine organisms as souvenirs and physical damage to the reef from boat anchoring and reef walking. Extensive collection of ornamental species is also affecting populations of some fish species. The invasive Acanthaster planci is common in the area and may pose a threat to its survival if the number of visitors increases.

The islands were strewn with polythene bags, waste paper, coconut shells, remnants of food particles and pieces of broken bottles by the visitors. Some of the visitors at the time used to cook their meals on the islands while about 12 temporary boutique keepers sold soft drinks, purified water, fried fish, bread and other food items to the visitors.

Fish fried on the spot with tomato, capsicum onions and sauce added had become a favourite dish among the tourists at the time. While tourists were charged for the fried fish, half a loaf of bread was given free. The people who engaged in this business used to leave all the remnants on the island at the end of the day.

Some of them even spent the night there while enjoying a barbecue party. At times the rock pigeons used to fall prey to these parties on the two islands which was why the decision was taken to declare the islands protected areas. According to later reports the barbecue parties ceased thereafter.

Around 25 fishing boats were used to transport local tourists from the beach to the island and back, the distance from the beach to the island being an estimated three kilometres.

The coral reefs on Pigeon Islands have been studied by NARA as part of a long-term monitoring programme in the past.

However scientific studies of the reefs in Trincomalee are lacking due to the past two decades of internal conflict in the country that has rendered the area inaccessible. The coral reefs were monitored only after the 1998 bleaching event, and due to the prevailing security concerns, reef surveys have been confined to the area between the Dutch Bay and Coral Island. Research was carried out at Pigeon Islands some years ago by the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency and the Sri Lanka Sub Aqua Club.

According to reports during that period of violence, the LTTE sea tigers made use of this island as a transit centre to move arms from the North to the East.

After the capture of Trincomalee by the armed forces, Tourism Minister Gamini Lokuge visited the Pigeon Islands to assess the situation. At the time of Lokuge's visit there were about six boutique keepers and Lokuge made certain arrangements in order to keep the island clean.
