Fish Aggregation Device Anchor

DMWR staff are working on concrete blocks for FAD E & F.  There will be a FAD Training in April and these anchors are used as props.  During the training, DMWR staffs will refresh what they've learned in the 2012 FAD Training when they were working on FAD A & C.  Thanks to the fisheries, wildlife and boating access staffs for helping.

These are the other 4 groups that participated the Water Quality Teacher's Workshop that was held at the Lee Auditorium in Utulei by Lucas Moxey a representative from the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Hawaii. 15 Elementary Schools and High Schools were represented in this effort during the 156th Council Meeting in American Samoa.  Teachers learned that water quality is a very important lesson and having children learn that whatever they do on land can affect the drinking water and also affect marine resources that people need in a daily life because they live on an island. Ph, Salinity, Phosphate, Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrate and Turbidity was tested during this Water Quality Teacher's Workshop.

Dedication for Faga'alu Boat Ramp on March 8, 2013

Kitty Simonds the Executive Director of Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPEFMC) and Lieutenant Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga had the honor of cutting the ribbon for the Faga'alu Boat Ramp.  This boat ramp was funded by WPRFMC for fishermen's in American Samoa to access the ocean, so they can continue what our ancestors started back in the days. All the catch by these fishermen's are collected and the data is send off island to Hawaii so they can analyse and determine the age of the fish and also the history of the fish. Ruth Matagi Tofiga the Director of the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources and staffs along with fishermen's and members of the council that attended the 156th Council Meeting that was held the Lee Auditorium in Utulei.

Necropsy of Beaked Whale at Futiga's Landfill

Dr. Kristi West, Alden Tagarino, Shane Cha and Sa'ia Lavata'i are performing a necropsy along with assistance from Anthony Sagapolutele, Hanipale Hanipale, Ailao Tualaulelei, Avele Lalogafuafua.  They found a baby beaked whale with plastic bottle caps, pieces of wood and a fruit of a tree in the stomach.  This female Beaked Whale was approximately 12.96 ft long and weighing about 880kgs.  Gut samples and Organ Tissue were sent to Hawaii for further investigation.

Beaked Whale stranded at Afono

Alden Tagarino, Fale Tuilagi and Afa Uikirifi are conducting the initial assessment which is getting length and width measurements, tissue samples and determined that it was a Female Beaked Whale.  The first responders helped with setting a boundary where people can't get close where the whale was and Tafito helped to stopped an excavator that was on the way to Vatia so we can dispose the Whale.  Thanks to Va'alele Maiva Mao, the land owner of the site of the stranded for letting DMWR use his land to dispose the Beaked Whale.

Chambered Nautilus

Peter Douglas Ward is a Paleontologist, and Paleontologist is the scientific study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and environments (their paleocology). Chambered Nautilus is one of the prehistoric animal, they are consider Cephalopods like octopuses and squids, the species has about 90 tentacles. 
Peter Ward and Gregory Barord did a project in American Samoa with a collaborative effort from NOAA and the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources.  They drop a camera attached to traps with chicken as baits and they found 4 nautilus in total for their scientific purposes. Peter and assisting scientists weigh, measure the length, the width and got an x ray photo of each nautilus that they found half a mile off the Tafuna International Airport.