Title: Trends in Reef Fish Population and Associated Fishery after Three Millennia of Resource Utilization and a Century of Socio-Economic Changes in American Samoa
Abstract: Abstract A series of social and economic changes in American Samoa brought about by westernization from United States occupation has resulted in an interesting interaction between the fishery and coral reef fish populations. Analysis of data from an extensive database and review of technical reports rarely accessed by the public yield a unique temporal pattern showing a significant decline in shoreline fishing effort and a non-significant decrease in boat-based effort, resulting in constant catch landings and catch-per-unit effort. Concurrent with the decline in fishing effort and constant catch landing was an increase in fish abundance and biomass for the targeted families. This fishing pressure release and recovery of the fish stock occurs in a period of rapid population growth, indicating non-dependence of the general population on fishing, reflecting the change in the social and economic dynamics within the territory. On a historical context, Samoans had relied and utilized marine resources for thousands of years. However, analysis showed present fish community composition, and catches showed significant similarity with prehistoric catches dating from 1000–3000 years ago, indicating that the marine resources were possibly utilized in a sustainable manner, and the recent socio-economic changes allowed recovery from prehistoric utilization. Keywords: boat-based fisheryshoreline fisheryreef fish abundancepopulation densityfishing effortcatch landing ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to acknowledge the Office of Federal Assistance under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for providing Sportfish Restoration funds for this research. Many thanks to the following for their generosity in sharing their data: Dr. Allison Green for providing the underwater survey data for Tutuila and the Manua Islands in 1996 and 2002; Dr. Richard Wass for providing the census data in 1977 to 1979; and Dr. Karl Brookins for providing the summarized coral reef fishery data and interpretations. Thanks to Dr. David Herdrich and the Historic Preservation Office under the Office of the Governor for providing insights and historic information on the coral reef fishery in American Samoa and the archaeological data from the midden site in Ofu. Special thanks to Dr. David Addison for the interpretation of the archaeological data. Many thanks to K. Brookins and J. Seamon for reviewing the draft manuscript and to the two anonymous reviewers who provided very helpful comments in improving the manuscript for publication.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-03-28
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 15
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