SELECT EDITION
CATEGORIES
◆ ECONOMY(1 fields)
Economy - overview
Subsistence fishing and commercial trawling activities within refuge waters.
◆ GEOGRAPHY(17 fields)
Area
total: 5.4 sq km land: 5.4 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative
about nine times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
Climate
marine, tropical
Coastline
8 km
Elevation extremes
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: unnamed location on southwest side 77 m
Environment - current issues
NA
Geographic coordinates
18 25 N, 75 02 W
Geography - note
strategic location 160 km south of the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; mostly exposed rock but with enough grassland to support goat herds; dense stands of fig-like trees, scattered cactus
Irrigated land
0 sq km (1998 est.)
Land boundaries
0 km
Land use
arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2001)
Location
Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, 35 miles west of Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti
Map references
Central America and the Caribbean
Maritime claims
territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Natural hazards
NA
Natural resources
guano
Terrain
raised coral and limestone plateau, flat to undulating; ringed by vertical white cliffs (9 to 15 m high)
◆ GOVERNMENT(4 fields)
Country name
conventional long form: none conventional short form: Navassa Island
Dependency status
unincorporated territory of the US; administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior, from the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Boqueron, Puerto Rico; in September 1996, the Coast Guard ceased operations and maintenance of Navassa Island Light, a 46-meter-tall lighthouse on the southern side of the island; there has also been a private claim advanced against the island
Flag description
the flag of the US is used
Legal system
the laws of the US, where applicable, apply
◆ INTRODUCTION(1 fields)
Background
This uninhabited island was claimed by the US in 1857 for its guano. Mining took place between 1865 and 1898. The lighthouse, built in 1917, was shut down in 1996 and administration of Navassa Island transferred from the Coast Guard to the Department of the Interior. A 1998 scientific expedition to the island described it as a unique preserve of Caribbean biodiversity; the following year it became a National Wildlife Refuge and annual scientific expeditions have continued.
◆ MILITARY(1 fields)
Military - note
defense is the responsibility of the US
◆ PEOPLE(1 fields)
Population
uninhabited note: transient Haitian fishermen and others camp on the island (July 2004 est.)
◆ TRANSNATIONAL ISSUES(1 fields)
Disputes - international
claimed by Haiti, source of subsistence fishing
◆ TRANSPORTATION(1 fields)
Ports and harbors
none; offshore anchorage only