The potential evacuation of all 2,600 inhabitants due to encroaching waves and sinking shores was suggested years ago.

But the first people to actually leave were a group of five men and their sons who boarded a banana boat at the end of April.

They have moved onto a 100-acre plot on the larger island of Bougainville that was donated by the Catholic Church.

The Post Courier reports the group will develop homes and plant crops to allow their entire families to eventually join them.

High astronomical tides have repeatedly wiped out many of the islanders’ crops in recent years.

The highest point in the Cateret Islands is only 5.5 feet above sea level.

While the evacuations are prompted by what appears to be rising sea levels, some have suggested that the coral atoll, which sits upon an extinct volcanic mount, is sinking due to erosion and geologic changes on the sea floor.

Photo: Toby Parkinson