DMWR staffs with their bright orange uniform cleaning up

Collecting Marine Debris Data

 Krishna and Sean sorting trash that was picked up from the marina on Friday.  They are seperating plastic bottles, glass bottles, bottle caps, foam cups, ciggarette butts, food rappers, plastic containers, plastic forks, spoon, knifes and plastic bags.  Sean input all this data in their database; how much trash that was picked up, how many pounds, what sort of trash collected and what can the department do to minimize trash from getting in the ocean like education and outreach to the village, put nets in the stream to capture all the debris, or enforce rules and regulation to families that live next to the stream and people that are littering.

DMWR staffs Coastweeks Clean Up Effort

Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga and staff cleaning up marina near the tool shoop in Malaloa on Friday September 20, 2013.  Approximately 50 dmwr staff participated to help out with this effort to keep Samoa clean.  Refigerators and wooden cabinets were removed from the marina and ASPA picked it up from the Pulu tree near the market place in Fagatogo.

DMWR Coastweeks Clean Up at Marina

On September 20, 2013, the department of marine and wildlife resources had their coastweeks clean up from the stream near the market place all the way to the marina behind the tool shop in Malaloa.  Peter Eves and Joshua Tuaumu scooping up floating debris from the marina.  All the government agencies did a good job of cleaning up their areas. Malo Le Galulue!

Crown of Thorns from the reef at Fagasa

On August 27, 2013 DMWR staffs removed 350 crown of thorns from the reef at Fagasa.  Alama Tua was the captian along with deck hand Krishna Tuifaiga and Sione Lam Yuen Jr., Joshua Tuaumu was the snorkeler, Tafito Aitaoto, Afa Uikirifi, Peter Taliva'a and Sean Felise were divers.  Representatives from the National Park were also there to assist with the effort.  The boys from the national park use a different method, rather than removing crown of thorns out of the water they injected crown of thorns with Sodium Bisulphate.

Map for Locations of Crown of Thorns Populations in American Samoa

This is the most updated map for August 2013 of the locations where crown of thorns are found that village people reported.  The bigger the orange star the more crown of thorns that DMWR staff removed.  The village of Aoa was reported 2 days ago that crown of thorns have been seen by kids snorkeling.

Crown of Thorns are a threat to the reef in American Samoa

Sean Felise and Peter Taliva'a are lifting up a cage with more than ten crown of thorns during a dive at Taema Bank on March 20, 2013.  Thanks to boat captain Herbie Umi for operating the boat.  Good Job for helping the reef of American Samoa DMWR.  Keep It Up!

Crown of Thorn Removal Effort

Tafito Aitaoto is removing a crown of thorn from the reef at Tafuna near the airport along with the assistant of Alice Lawrence, Peter Taliva'a, Sean Felise and Natosha Ripley.  Only five crown of thorns were caught during this dive on November 7, 2012.

Reefs Bleached by Crown of Thorns

This is a photo taken at Taema Bank on March 18, 2013 by Alice Lawrence.  The white patch is where the crown of thorn was at before it was removed by  Peter Taliva'a during a dive.  There were Fifteen crown of thorns that DMWR staffs removed during this dive.  This is an effort that the department is doing to help American Samoa's Reef.

Crown of Thorn Survey

Sean Felise and Tafito Aitaoto are measuring the width from the longest arm to the other in centimeter and counting the legs.  Three fishermens brought in 145 crown of thorns from Tafuna near the airport on August 22, 2013.  Fagamalo, Fagasa, Masausi, Lauli'i, Taema Bank, Nu'uuli, Airport, Maliu Mai and Fogama'a are villages or sites under the crown of thorns removal effort.

What is a Crown Of Thorn?

Crown Of Thorn (Acanthaster planci), is a large starfish that varies in color and can have 10 to 25 arms with the top body covered with venomous spikes.  They live on the reefs and lagoons and they are nocturnal feeders meaning they feed during night time.  Crown of Thorn feed on coral polyp and can kill coral colonies in short period of time.  Each female can produce up to 60 million eggs with a single spawning season.