Subsistence harvest of coral reef resources in the outer islands of American Samoa: Modern, historic and prehistoric catches

The outer islands of American Samoa provided an opportunity to examine a small-scale subsistence fishery from four perspectives: modern, historic and pre-historic harvests, and standing stocks. The per capita catch in 2002 was 71 kg/person of which 63 kg/person was consumed and the remainder sent to family members on the main island of Tutuila. The annual harvest (37.5 metric tonnes (mt)) consisted of the coastal pelagic bigeye scad Selar crumenophthalmus (31%), reef-associated fish (57%) and invertebrates (12%). Fishing effort was low (averaging only 2.7 fishers at any given time), but when this effort was expanded to an annual period, it amounted to 20,282 h of fishing and an extraction of 1400 kg of fish and invertebrates per kilometer of shoreline. The harvest yield of reef-associated fishes (2.3 mt/km2/yr) was approximately 1–3% of standing stocks. Fish biomass on the reefs (2.6 mt/ha) was more closely aligned with literature values for remote and relatively unfished reefs (3.0 mt/ha) than fished reefs (1.1 mt/ha) in the central Pacific region. Additionally, most village elders interviewed (85%) felt that fishing now was good and similar to when they were younger. The current composition of fish harvested was also similar to that previously found in a nearby archeological excavation dated 1000–3000 years ago. These findings indicate that the harvest has been sustainable over the millennia, although some potential impacts to the coral reef ecosystem are noted, particularly the current scarcity of large fish.