Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources; Coral Reef Advisory Group; National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa; National Park of American Samoa; American Samoa Community College; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Action Plan for Coral Reef Restoration in American Samoa

2021

Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources; Coral Reef Advisory Group; National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa; National Park of American Samoa; American Samoa Community College; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

"Over the past 50 years, American Samoa has experienced a number of acute disturbance events. This includes ship groundings, cyclones, storms, crown of thorn starfish outbreaks, and algal competition and overgrowth. There have also been a numerous coral bleaching events within the last 20 years. Further, there is also a need for coral restoration in areas where chronic stressors have been mitigated. Therefore, this Pilot Project (Goal 1) will be aimed at recovery of losses from acute disturbance events, and will assist the restoration of reef function through direct transplantation of corals of opportunity and selected fragments, in conjunction with field-based asexual coral propagation and outplanting. Restoration from acute events will support the ecological and human/social priorities. One key focus will be to improve the resilience of reefs throughout American Samoa. The priority goal selected for Goal 1 of the restoration action plan is: Reefs that are acutely impacted or where a chronic stressor has been removed will be restored to recover reef function."

coral reef, restoration, American Samoa

NMFS

OHC

FY2021 CRCP Project ID 31238; Project Title: Collaboration and capacity building for coral restoration in the Pacific Islands; Principal Investigator: Lani Watson