# Tern Island (Hawaii)

Tern Island is a coral island located near French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. It is approximately 490 miles (790 kilometers) west-northwest of Oahu, about halfway to Midway Island to the west.
The island provides a breeding habitat to 18 species of seabirds, green sea turtles, and Hawaiian monk seals.
The Naval Air Station's WWII seawall, runway, seawall, and some of the buildings remain. The island is protected by thousands of feet of seawall built during WWII, later some repair work was done. The island has a sand airstrip, which is not longer active, and there are buildings left over from the prior Navy, Coast Guard, and National Wildlife Service use.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service closed its field station on the island at the end of 2012 after a storm damaged the facilities. A naval base operated from 1942 to 1946, a Coast Guard base from 1952 to 1979, and a Fish & Wildlife station from 1979 to 2012, but is still visited periodically. The island was recorded on Google Earth in 2013. The French Frigate Shoals Airport is unattended and only acceptable for emergency landings.

## History

After the 1942 Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy built a Naval Air Station on Tern Island, enlarging the island to support a 3300 ft. (1005 m) landing strip. Construction started in July 1942. They constructed a 5000-foot double steel pylon seawall, with walls separated by 4 feet. The original seawall used over 5000 steel pilings. Maintenance was conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard while it operated there.
The facility was commissioned in March 1943. The station's main function was as an emergency landing site for planes flying between Hawaii and Midway Atoll.
The island was expanded from 11 acres to 34 acres, and supported parking spots for 22 aircraft. A 90-foot-tall radar tower and barracks were added. Reconnaissance air patrols were flown from the island.
Base defenses included a battery of 90 mm guns, 3-inch guns, and 30 calibre machine guns. Approximately 130 people staffed the island.
One emergency landing occurred in 1944, when a Curtiss C-46 Commando with dozens of marines aboard had an engine failure and was close to ditching in the ocean. The twin-engine transport plane was down to an altitude of less than 300 feet, despite having dropped as much weight as possible when it managed to land on Tern Island. The aircraft was able to land with one engine out, avoiding fatalities.
In 1945, Tern Island landed the USMC comedy show All Fouled Up when the entourage's R4D aircraft could not land at Midway due to fog. The show was performed for the crew there.
The naval base operated until 1946, when it was replaced by two fisheries. The fish were flown to Honolulu on a DC-3 aircraft.
A U.S. Coast Guard station operated from 1952 until 1979. In 1969, a tsunami wiped out much of the station, which was repaired. The crew was evacuated by helicopter by the ship HMNZS Waikato, and taken to Midway. Also, from 1961 to 1983 a missile tracking station operated there.
Between 1986 and 1991 Tern Island was used to study the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas).
One Piper Aztec landed over 600 times at Tern Island. Monthly flights typically involved travel to Honolulu for mail, while heavier cargo usually came by water.
The barracks continued to be used into the 21st century. Upgrades included the cleanup of old waste, improved water tanks, and solar power. The solar power runs a reverse osmosis desalinator, capable of producing 1200 gallons a day. A diesel generator runs off a 500-gallon fuel tank.
After decades the steel wall became a marine life hazard, trapping seals and turtles. As a result, Congress approved about 10 million dollars along with another million from a Federal agency to repair it, from 2000 to 2003. However, the funds ran out halfway through.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) operated a field station on the island from 1979 to 2012. The wildlife station had between 5 and 15 staff. Closure came after a storm in December 2012, when several people evacuated in advance of the storm. The storm damaged facilities including the barracks.
In the summer of 2004, 1200 feet of seawall were repaired, and the boat dock was replaced by a boat ramp for small boats. However, thousands of feet of seawall were still in need of repair.
In 2013, the island was imaged for a Google Street View project, to allow the islands to be viewed online. Google and the US government worked to make five islands viewable. The other Pacific islands were East Island (also in French Frigate Shoals), Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, and Pearl and Hermes Atoll. The viewer offered a series of panoramic images from head height to be viewed around the island. The path takes views along much of the length of the airstrip and part of the shore.
In 2013 the NOAA ship Oscar Sette visited French Frigate Shoals and established a field camp on Tern Island. The storm at the end of 2012 had left the barracks uninhabitable, and the water system unusable. Water had to be brought in jugs.
In 2019, a survey of green sea turtles was conducted. 371 were reported.
In 2020, the beach was designated as polluted by plastic trash. This ruling came after years of research, including 14.5 thousand kilograms of trash discovered within 5000 meters of the beach over 11 years. Over 70 percent of the trash was plastic. Debris accumulation was studied in the 2010s. In the 2020s, researchers again noted the threat posed by the corroded double steel wall.
In 2020, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project removed tons of marine debris from French Frigate Shoals, including Tern Island.

## Birds

The bird populations were studied. One concern was birds eating plastic trash, which was studied between 2006 and 2013. Tern Island is a popular research site to study Pacific sea- and shore-birds.
Sixteen seabird species inhabited Tern Island in the early 21st century, including:
* Sooty tern
* White tern
* Brown noddy
* Black noddy
* Masked booby
* Brown booby
* Red-footed booby
* Wedge-tailed shearwater
* Tristram's storm petrel
* Black-footed albatross
* Laysan albatross
* Great frigatebird
In 1998 and 1999, the black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) were studied. The research recorded a particularly unsuccessful nesting season.
A 2010 study noted that other rare birds were sometimes seen at Tern. Examples include the short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) and fork-tailed swift (Apus pacificus).
Tern Island is popular with green sea turtles; while in 1977 no nests were observed; twenty years later, this had grown to around 700 nests.
Migratory shorebirds known to winter at Tern in the early 21st century include:
* Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva)
* Ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
* Sanderling (Calidris alba)
* Wandering tattler (Heteroscelus incanus)
* Bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitensis)

## Geography

Island beaches include:
* Shell Beach & Crab Beach, on the north side of the island
* East Beach
* South Beach
A small boat ramp replaced dock and boat hoist in 2004.