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Necker
Island
(Mokumanamana)
 About
155 miles northwest of Nihoa lies Mokumanamana, a small basalt island
that is 1/6 square km, 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.
Mokumanamana
is known for its numerous wahi pana (religious places) and mea makamae
(cultural objects). Fifty-five cultural  places
are known, of which 33 are religious, 17 are shelter caves, and 2 sites
are of unknown function. These cultural sites are thought to date primarily
before the habitation sites on Nihoa Island were abandoned in the eighteenth
century.
Because
the island is small, dry, and has little soil suitable for agriculture,
Hawaiians probably traveled to Mokumanamana from Nihoa and other Hawaiian
Islands primarily for religious purposes. In addition to constructing
religious structures, Hawaiians made ki'i pohaku or stone human images
while on Mokumanamana. More than 11 of these stone ki'i are known.
Other activities that took place on the island are indicated by the
production and use of stone adzes, grindstones, stone bowls, and fishing
tools.
In 1786,
Compte de La Pérouse, a French explorer, visited Mokumanamana
and named it "Necker Island" after Jacques Necker, the finance
minister under Louis XVI. In 1857, Kamehameha IV sent Captain John
Paty to claim Mokumanamana for the Kingdom of Hawai`i. His claim was
contested until 1894, when the island was annexed by Hawai`i's Provisional
Government.
The Tanager
Expedition visited Mokumanamana in 1923-24 and to conduct biological
and cultural research. Members of the Native Hawaiian organization
Hui Mälama I Nä Küpuna O Hawai`i Nei visited Mokumanamana
in 1997 to rebury ancestral human bones that were removed from the
island in the 1920s.
Terrestrial
animal life on Mokumanamana includes the blue gray noddy, land snails,
wolf spiders, bird ticks, and 15 endemic insects.
 Marine
life includes gray reef sharks, manta rays and sixteen species of stony
corals. Hawaiian
monk seals are seen
on the
island's
rocky
shores. A
great
abundance and diversity of sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and
lobsters are found in Shark Bay. Little coral life exists in the shallow
areas due to the constant wave action that scours the underwater basalt
yet Mokumanamana is the most easterly island in the Hawaiian
archipelago where table corals, Acropora spp., are found.
Most reef life is found in holes and elevated areas protected from
the currents. Below the shallow reef are extensive deeper "shelves" that
extend many miles from the island, especially to the southeast. These
broad offshore areas are used for commercial fishing and a large percentage
of the gray snapper (uku, Aprion virescens) landed in the
state comes from these shallow banks.
Visiting
Mokumanamana is permitted only for scientific, educational and cultural
purposes in order to protect its significant natural and cultural resources.
Approval must be given by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is
mostly granted to those doing cultural and scientific activities.
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