Whitall, D., Holst, S.

Baseline assessment of contamination in Faga'alu Bay: January 17th to January 24th, 2014

2014

Silver Spring, MD

NOAA National Ocean Service

3

Interim Mission Report, 17-24 January 2014

"Faga'alu watershed and Bay, located on the south shore of American Samoa near Pago Pago Harbor, was designated in 2012 by the US Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) as a priority watershed for the USCRTF Watershed Partnership Initiative. Significant scientific and management resources are being focused on this system. Part of this management process includes being able to measure ecological change in the system, including potential improvements in coral reef condition and reductions in land based sources of pollution (LBSP). The watershed has one likely primary source of LBSP stress (a rock quarry generating sediment runoff), but also has several minor potential pollution sources including runoff from roads, poorly functioning septic systems/cesspools, a hospital, a history of piggeries and low intensity agriculture (e.g. bananas), and a now closed bay-side landfill. In order to measure change, a starting point or baseline? must be quantified. This study is part of a larger baseline characterization effort, which includes quantification of watershed fluxes of sediments and nutrients, sedimentation rates on corals in the Bay and an assessment of coral reef biological status. This portion of the study complements these efforts with a quantitative assessment of the pollution present in the Bay."

Watershed

FY2014 CRCP Project ID 917; Project Title: Comprehensive Baseline Assessment and Pilot Test of Outcome Performance Measures in Faga'alu Bay, American Samoa; Principal Investigator: Susie Holst