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| Scuba Anguilla Coral Reef |
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Resources Overview
Anguilla is an overseas territory of the UK, and consists of a small carbonate island together with a number of smaller offshore cays. Fringing reefs are widespread, particularly on the south coast, and there are other reefs on the offshore cays. Anguilla has suffered fewer impacts than most other islands in the region. With no rivers there is little pointsource runoff, and although tourism development has been significant, it has had little direct impact. Dog Island, some distance off to the northwest, has reefs which are among the least impacted and visitors are actively discouraged. Plans to establish a satellite launching pad on the small island of Sombrero have recently been overturned, largely due to environmental concerns. It harbors an important bird colony, and its surrounding reefs are considered important, although they remain poorly documented.
Anguilla is known for its intentionally sunk shipwrecks, artificial reefs that provide for the enjoyment of scuba divers. The island is home to a truly unique attraction, a 960-ton Spanish galleon [El Buen Consejo] that rests quietly on the ocean floor with her cannons and cargo serving as a silent testament to the Caribbean's turbulent past. The site is an award-winning underwater park [Stoney Bay Marine Park] open to certified scuba divers. Anguilla also boasts a healthy double reef system, where a wide variety of corals flourish.
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Geography
Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, east of Puerto Rico, the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles |
People
Anglican 40%, Methodist 33%, Seventh-Day Adventist 7%, Baptist 5%, Roman Catholic 3%, other 12% definition: age 12 and over can read and write
total population: 95% black (predominant), mulatto, white
male: 95%
female: 95% (1984 est.) |
Economy
Anguilla has few natural resources, and the economy depends heavily on luxury tourism, offshore banking, lobster fishing, and remittances from emigrants. Increased activity in the tourism industry, which has spurred the growth of the construction sector, has contributed to economic growth. Anguillan officials have put substantial effort into developing the offshore financial sector, which is small, but growing. In the medium term, prospects for the economy will depend largely on the tourism sector and, therefore, on revived income growth in the industrialized nations as well as on favorable weather conditions |
Profile
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History
Colonized by English settlers from Saint Kitts in 1650, Anguilla was administered by Great Britain until the early 19th century, when the island - against the wishes of the inhabitants - was incorporated into a single British dependency along with Saint Kitts and Nevis. Several attempts at separation failed. In 1971, two years after a revolt, Anguilla was finally allowed to secede; this arrangement was formally recognized in 1980 with Anguilla becoming a separate British dependency. |
| Information provided by CIA Worldfactbook, US Department of State, Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). ReefBase: Oliver, J. and M. Noordeloos. Editors. 2002, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center, |
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