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This collection of articles provides a glimpse into the marine and wildlife resources in American Samoa's tropical, oceanic environment. The articles were written by 8 biologists at the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR), National Park of American Samoa (NPS) and Land Grant Program at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC). Our purpose in writing these was to make the results of our studies available to local teachers, students, visitors and whoever else might be curious about Samoa's unique environment. The use of English, Samoan and scientific names of plants and animals varies.

In March 2002, a workshop was held to build a comprehensive long-term monitoring plan for American Samoa by coordinating existing monitoring programs and identifying areas where additional monitoring/research was needed. The primary achievement of the plan is to identify and define core sites on the main islands of Tutuila and the Manu’a group in order to mesh existing programs monitoring corals, fishes and water quality. The priority for these and future monitoring programs will be to monitor these core sites, of which there are eight on Tutuila and six on each of the islands of Ofu/Olosega and Ta’u. The other major monitoring initiative is that of the multi-disciplinary Coral Reef Ecosystem Investigation surveys which will monitor alternative sites on Tutuila and the Manu’a group, as well as remote Swains Island and Rose Atoll. The monitoring plan acts as an in-depth guide to coral reef monitoring in American Samoa by detailing the goals and methodologies of these and other major monitoring programs, notably of the various Marine Protected Areas. Listing the workshop recommendations for additional monitoring/research needed for comprehensive long-term monitoring completes the plan.

Coral reefs are an important natural resource in American Samoa providing protection, food, and other benefits. American Samoa's reefs have suffered numerous natural and anthropogenic destructive impacts including crown-of-thorns starfish infestations, coral bleaching events, cyclones, sedimentation and pollution. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are one form of management that can be used to address some of these threats to the reefs. Studies have shown that well-designed no-take reserves are particularly effective in maintaining biodiversity, productivity and ecological integrity of coral reefs (NOAA, 2002). MPAs also protect trophic systems and ecosystem resilience. On August 2, 2000 then-Governor Tauese Sunia requested a plan be developed for coral reef protection to reach the goal of protecting twenty percent (20%) of Territorial coral reefs as "no-take" MPA's (Sunia, 2000). To ensure effective management, the American Samoa Government has acknowledged the need for a Coral Reef MPA Strategy that can guide the creation of new no take MPAs. The American Samoa Coral Reef MPA Strategy covers the coral reef ecosystems in American Samoa, which are understood to include coral, seagrass, macroalgae, coralline algae, turf algae, emergent vegetation and mangroves.

This chain of 13 Pacific islands (9 inhabited) plus two remote atolls is located 14° south of the equator near the international date line. It is divided into two political entities, the US Territory of American Samoa and the neighboring independent country- of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa. The youngest islands in this chain lie towards the east (Ta'u). The land area of (western) Samoa (2934 km2, 1132 mi2) is approximately 15 times larger than the land area of American Samoa (197.1 km2, 76.1 mi2).

The wildlife resources of American Samoa are distributed among five volcanic islands (Aunu'u, Ofu, Olosega, Ta'u, and Tutuila) and two atolls (Swains and Rose). Land birds and fruit bats are the most conspicuous components of the native fauna and have been the focus of DMWR's wildlife investigations under the Wildlife Restoration Program. The State Wildlife Program provides DMWR with the opportunity to broaden the taxonomic coverage of its wildlife program to include those species that, for reasons of lack of funding, have been largely excluded in previous research and monitoring programs. Most of the taxonomic groups (vertebrates and invertebrates) are relatively depauperate with few to no species unique to American Samoa, with the exception of the gastropods. Land snails, in particular, are represented by numerous species, a high proportion of which are endemic to the Samoan archipelago.

Bottomfishing from canoes by the natives of the American Samoa islands has been a subsistence traditional practice in the distant past. But it was not until the early 1970s that the bottomfish fishery developed into a commercial venture utilizing motorized boats. A government subsidized program, called the Dory project was initiated in 1972 to develop the offshore fisheries into a commercial venture, and resulted in an abrupt increase in the fishing fleet and total landings. In 1982 a fisheries development project aimed at exporting high-priced deep-water snappers to the Hawaii fish auction caused another notable increase in both bottomfish landings and revenue. Between 1982 and 1988, bottomfish fishery comprised as much as 50% of the total commercial catch. Beginning in 1988 the nature of American Samoa's fisheries changed dramatically with a shift in importance from bottomfish fishing towards trolling. In the past four years, the dominant fishing method has been longlining.