The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have recently come under more scrutiny than ever before. Until now, the NWHI were only in the public eye occasionally such as when ships were wrecked in the shallow waters near the islands. Today a number of federal and state government agencies, non-profit organizations, scientists, activists, businessmen, and fishermen are helping to shape the future of these islands. In the near future, much of the NWHI's islands, atolls and reefs may come under the jurisdiction of a newly created Coral Reef Reserve, the first such reserve in the nation.

Nihoa

Nihoa is unlike any of the other Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) with its 900 foot cliffs, basalt rock surface, and tiny beach. This small island is about 1 square kilometers (171 acres) and is at the southeastern end of the NWHI chain.

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Mokumanamana

About 155 miles northwest of Nihoa lies Mokumanamana, or Necker Island, a small basalt island that is 1/6 square kilometers, or 46 acres, in size. Although the island is the second smallest of the NWHI, it has the second largest surrounding marine habitat (almost 385,000 acres). Large offshore areas include Shark Bay on the north side, West Cove and Northwest Cape as well as miles of shallow reef to the southeast.

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French Frigate Shoals

French Frigate Shoals is an atoll consisting of a large, crescent-shaped reef surrounding numerous small, sandy islets. While the land area is only square kilometer (67 acres), the total coral reef area of the shoals is over 938 square kilometers (232,000 acres).

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Gardner Pinnacles

When the two pinnacles of volcanic rock between French Frigate Shoals and Maro Reef come into view, mariners know they have reached Gardner Pinnacles. This 5-acre island comprises the smallest land area of any of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). Underwater shelves reach outward from the pinnacles and extend over an area of 2,446 square kilometers (604,000 acres).

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Maro Reef

Maro Reef is the largest coral reef in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), with over 1,934 square kilometers (approximately 746 square miles or 478,000 acres) of reef area. Unlike classic ring-shaped atolls, Maro is a complex maze of linear reefs that radiate out from the center like the spokes of a wheel. It is named after the whaling ship Maro, which traveled these waters in 1820.

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Laysan

At more than 1,000 acres, Laysan is the largest single landmass in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). It extends about 1.6 kilometers across and 2.4 kilometers long. Its poi board shape was formed by geologic uplift and by coral growth. It has fringing reefs and a hypersaline (very salty) lake in its interior, the only lake in the NWHI. A white sand beach surrounds Laysan's beautiful lake and is topped by dry coastal grasses. Sedges grow thick near the lake's edge.

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Lisianski

About 20 million years ago, geologic forces raised the tip of a huge coral bank above sea level. Today, Lisianski Island is 1.5 square kilometers (381 acres), about the size of Honolulu. Its highest point is a sand dune about 40 feet above sea level. Though the island is small, the reef area to the southeast, called Neva Shoals, is huge, covering 979 square kilometers, an area nearly the size of O`ahu.

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Pearl and Hermes

Pearl and Hermes Atoll is a true atoll that is primarily underwater and has numerous islets, seven of which are above sea level. While total land area is only 0.32 square kilometers (80 acres), the reef area is huge, over 770 square kilometers (194,000 acres). The atoll is ever changing, with islets emerging and subsiding.

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Midway

Midway, the best known of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), is a circular-shaped atoll with three small islets (Sand, Eastern, and Spit) on the southern end of a lagoon. While its land area is small, about 1,535 acres, the atoll has approximately 85,929 acres of reef area.

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Kure

Kure Atoll is the most remote of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the northern-most coral atoll in the world. Kure is an oval-shaped atoll, which is 10 km at its maximum diameter and 91 km west-northwest of Midway Atoll at the extreme northwest end of the Hawaiian archipelago. Green Island is the only permanent island in the atoll. The island is a nesting area for shearwaters, petrels, tropicbirds, boobies, frigatebirds, albatrosses, terns and noddies. It is also a wintering area for a variety of migratory bird species from North America and Asia.

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