Monitoring recommendations for the Community-based fisheries Mangement Program of Tutuila, American Samoa; For the departmnet of Marine and wildlife Resources Tutuila, American Samoa August 2004

Abstract

The American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (“DMWR”)began working with local communities on the island of Tutuila in 2001 to develop the Community­Based Fisheries Management Program (“CBFMP”). Through a series of meetings with representatives from select villages, DMWR sought the voluntary participation of communities in an effort to manage and monitor their own coral reef resources. The program has grown to include seven villages, each of which is responsible for all aspects of managing and monitoring their own resources, with technical assistance from DMWR. Committees from each village have designed and implemented management plans which vary from village to village, but generally include some type of restriction on fishing activity on part or all of the reef fronting their villages. Many of the participating villages have reported anecdotally that they have seen improvement in their resources since the program’s inception, but as of yet, there has been no effort devoted towards scientifically monitoring these areas. As such, a robust, quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of the management efforts has not been possible in any of the participating villages. While it may be too late to obtain useful “baseline” data that shows the state of the marine resources prior to the implementation of the management plans, it is imperative that monitoring commence as soon as possible to allow for future analysis of the trends in the health of the reefs of the villages participating in the CBFMP.