The reefs contribute significantly to the marine ecosystem and provide an environment in which a wide range of fish and other creatures live. In 1906 a survey "The Fishes of Samoa" was conducted by Jordan and Seale which described the islands as having the richest fish fauna in the world. Since then further studies have been carried out around both Samoa and American Samoa and in 1984 R.C. Wass produced "An Annotated Checklist of the Fishes of Samoa" in which he identified 991 species, about 40 of which are unique to the islands.

On this page we shall take a brief look at the state of the coral reefs in both Samoa and American Samoa and comment on the pressures they are facing.

Coral reefs can be found all around Upolu apart from the north east coast. The island of Savai'i has coral reefs in places around the south east and north west coast. The Palolo Deep Marine Reserve was established in 1974 on the eastern edge of Apia harbour and this small area is the only marine protection area to be found in the islands. It covers 135 hectares (343.75 acres) and extends 500 meters (1,650 feet) out from the coast. A research project is currently underway at the reserve and over 150 species of seaweed, including 4 new ones have been catalogued ¹.

The reefs around Samoa are in a generally poor shape. The effects of the two massive hurricanes, Ofa and Val, in the early 1990s did substantial damage to the reefs and this has been further compounded by an infestation of Crown-of-Thorns starfish and coral bleaching.

Various man-made factors are also contributing to the ill health of Samoa's reefs with top-soil run off from deforestation, sewerage, construction, agriculture and mining all playing their part.

A report in 1991 by L. Zann ² for the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the United Nations Development Program described Samoa as having amongst the most degraded reefs in the Pacific and the Fisheries Division of the Department of Argiculture Food and Fisheries estimated that around 90% of the reefs surrounding Apia were dead.

Reefs can be found in many locations around American Samoa and three marine preservation areas have been established. The American Samoa National Park protects some of the waters around the islands of Tutuila, Ta'u and Ofu. The waters around Fagatele on Tutuila are protected by the Fagatele National Marina Sanctuary. The whole of Rose Atoll has been designated the Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

Between 1978 and 1980 the reefs of American Samoa were badly effected by a Crown-of-Thorns starfish infestation, only to be hit by the effects of hurricanes Val and Ofa. These hurricanes also left nine long line tuna fishing vessels standed on the reefs around Pago Pago. The removal of these vessels started in late 1999 and was finished with the sinking of the last two in deep ocean water on March 20th 2000.

In 1994 widespread coral bleaching was reported and smaller occurence was reported in 1998.

Pago Pago Harbour is also badly affected by industrial pollution running off from the tuna processing factories and the reef ecosystem here is in a very poor state.

In December 1999 an assesment of the reefs around American Samoa reported that the reefs were finally starting to recover from the ravages of the previous decade. Although the reefs may be recovering they are still in poor condition apart from those around Olosega Island and Rose Atoll, which is home to some 500 different species of fish.

Tropical corals can only live within a very narrow temperature range. Events such as El Nino and general global warming lead to increases in surface water temperature which adversely effect the growth of coral. This can be seen very clearly when swimming through the reefs, because rather than being full of vibrantly coloured corals, they appear to be white or grey with only a few tips of coloured coral visible. If the warming of the sea water continues then it is likely that most, if not all of the coral reefs around Samoa will disappear.

If the corals die, then many of the fish that live in and around the reefs will disappear and the potential of for raising revenue from tourists interested in diving will vanish.

On the February 28th 1998 a reef top survey found that between 60% and 70% of all reeftop staghorn Acopora coral at the Palolo Deep Marine Reserve near Apia was suffering from bleaching ³. What is remarkable is that this bleaching occured in a space of just 5 days. Coral at greater depths was unaffected. At about the same time the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa reported ⁴ that a combination of low tides at midday and abnormally high water temperatures (about 30 degrees centigrade) had also lead to bleaching.

On April 19th 2000, Greenpeace released a coral bleaching alert for certain areas of the Pacific. In it they reported that 75% of coral to a depth of 4 meters around the Fijian island of Viti Levu was bleached and that extensive bleaching had also been reported from the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands.

Reef fish make up a significant part of the diet in Samoa, and as the population of the islands has grown so to has the size of the catches: until recently that is.

Some fishing techniques that have been used will damage the reef to varying degrees. The most harmful, which is illegal throughout the Pacific, is blast fishing. Dynamite is thrown into the reef and the compression wave from the explosion kills and stuns fish which then float to the surface where they can be quickly gathered. The explosion will of course dislodge large chunks of the coral from the reef and patches of coral adjacent to the damaged area will also die. Although illegal surepticious use of dynamite takes places, and it was only on February 2000 that two men were caught and prosecuted in American Samoa for using this technique.

A method of trapping eels using specially designed baskets which are then covered in coral to provide an attractive lair can lead to small scale damage of the reef and it is not unusual for coral to be broken while spear fishing or searching for lobsters, crabs and sea urchins.

A report by the American Samoa Coral Reef Task Force in May 1999 ⁵ also identified spear fishing with scuba equipment as a new source of pressure on reef fish and have recommended that it be banned as it has in a number of other locations.

The fishing vessels beached around American Samoa following hurricanes Val and Ofa contained 10,500 gallons of unused fuel oil. In 1997 it was discovered than one of the ships, the Koram 3 ⁶ beached in Pago Pago harbour, had started leaking and this prompted the Coast Guard to instigate the clean up process. If this had not been undertaken the damage that could have been done to the reefs would have lasted for generations.

The reef around Rose Atoll was damaged by a spill of fuel oil from a grounded Taiwanese fishing vessel, Jin Shiang Fa, in 1993.

With much electricity being generated by oil-fired power stations and the requirement of petrol and diesel for car, trucks and buses, both Samoa's are susceptable to major environmental damage should a tanker delivering oil ever run aground.

In the 1960s marine biologists recognised that the Great Barrier Reef in Australia was being decimated by a species od starfish. The Crown of Thorns starfish were amassing in hundreds of thousands and eating their way through the coral.

The starfish is 50cm or more across and has 12 to 20 arms. The whole upper surface is covered in orange-brown spines which contain a mild toxin, that if stung with will cause extreme pain. If you are diving or snorkeling you should handle them very carefully. If you decide to remove them use a stick to pick them up and then leave them top side down in the sand so that no one will tread on the spines.

Since the Australian incident there have been outbreaks of Crown of Thorns starfish thoughout the Pacific and both Samoa and American Samoa have been badly hit. Reef that has been invaded by Crown of Thorns is totally lifeless. All that is left are stumps of graying and white coral and hardly any fish are to be found. It will take the reefs at least 15 years to recover from the infestation.

A Crown of Thorns outbreak was first recorded in 1969 along the south coast of Upolu and then between 1978 and 1985 a series of larger outbreaks followed through the rest of Upolu. Savai'i was hit by outbreaks in 1980 and 1987 and the damage was severe. Although the affected southern and eastern reefs recovered quickly northern and western ones have taken much longer.

During a normal storm the reef surrounding an island will protect the shore from the worst of the weather. In a cyclone however the combination of very strong winds and tidal surge reeks havoc with the reef, lagoon and coastline. During hurricane Ofa wind speeds of over 140 knots were recorded, whipping up monstrous waves and doing severe damage to the outer reef. The coral and rubble from the outer reef is then washed into the lagoon where it dislodges more coral from exposed inner reefs.

Any reef will take a terrible battering from the effects of a big cyclone, but reefs that have been weakend by pollution, Crown-of-Thorns or bleaching may never be able to recover from the damage inflicted by a cyclone.

Soil being washed off the islands and deposited in the lagoon is a problem facing both Samoa and American Samoa. The construction of roads and development of new housing too close to the shoreline are two causes which have been cited. In Savai'i logging of virgin primary forest has also contributed to this problem. With the trees and their root systems removed there is nothing to hold the soil in place when it rains. As well leading to increased sedimentation over the reef and a reduction in the amount of light available for photosynthesis by the algal symbiants in the coral it also causes unprecedented amounts of nutrients to be introduced into the lagoon. The nutrients encourage certain types of alga to reproduce very rapidly leading to the formation of surface scums and severe reductions in oxygen levels in the water within the lagoon which causes many of the marine animals to die.