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Year of most recent IBA criteria assessment: 2012

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Current IUCN Red List Category	Season	Year(s) of estimate	Population estimate	IBA Criteria Triggered
Common White Tern Gygis alba	LC	breeding	1966	3,000 individuals	A4i

Note: This table presents the IBA criteria triggered and the species that triggered then at the time of assessment, the current IUCN Red List category may vary from that which was in place at that time.

For more information about the IBA assessment process and criteria please click here

Protected Area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa	National Marine Sanctuary	3,537,370	protected area overlaps with site	0

IUCN Habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Artificial/Terrestrial	Coconut plantations	-
Wetlands (inland)	Coastal lagoons	-
Forest	Beach and atoll forest	-
Coastline	Coral reefs & lagoons, Sand dunes & beaches	-

For further information about the habitat classification please click here.

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
not utilised	-

For further information about the land use classification please click here.

The customary owners of Swain's Island were the Tokelauans of Fakaofo. The island came into private ownership in 1856, when the coconut plantations were established, and remains a private estate owned by the Jennings family. The island is a sovereign (flag) possession of the U.S.A. (Volk 1993).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2022) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Swain's Atoll. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/01/2022.