INTRODUCED MARINE SPECIES IN PAGO ... - Bishop Museum

IV. RESULTS
A. Station Descriptions
Collections and observations were made at 10 stations, comprised of two sites in inner Pago
Pago Pago Harbor, four sites in the outer harbor, two sites in Fagatele Bay and one site each in
Vatia and Fagasa Bays. Descriptions of the environment at each station are as follows:
Station 1. West Fagatele Bay. 14-Oct-02 (Latitude 14° 21.96'S, Longitude 170° 45.85'W).
The bottom slopes at a steep 30° slope from shore to a sandy area at the base of the coral zone
at 20-25 m, with a substratum of mostly cobble to boulder size coral rubble on hard limestone
reef. The coral cover is about 20-50% with Acropora hyacinthus coral abundant with tables up to
2 m diameter and vestiges of old tables and outcrops heavily covered with calcareous algae,
suggesting that these were alive at time of a hurricane that occurred 12 years ago. Very few
branching forms of Acropora or other species were present, indicating this area to be exposed to
frequent high turbulence.
Station 2. East Fagatele Bay. 14-Oct-02 (Latitude 14° 21.95'S, Longitude 170° 45.77'W).
The site is a rich coral area with high relief and channels littered with coral rubble and coarse
sand. Coral is very abundant on ridges between channels and dominated by Pocillopora,
Acropora and Montipora species with cover up to >60%. Most of the rubble in the narrow
channels is cemented together by sponges and calcareous algae, and much was covered by a
surface of encrusting corals (mainly Montipora spp.). Below 15 m, the reef sloped more steeply
into a zone of predominately small/medium sized coral rubble (18-22 m) and flattened out into a
sandy bottom at about 24 m. Water clarity was high and visibility was 20 m or more. A shallower
area about 150 m offshore near the center of the bay in ca. 5-6 m depth has monospecific stands
of Merulina and Echinopora that begin at 5-7 m depth and extend for about 20 m in at least two
large channels and an area where disease lesions occurred on about 10-20% of the A.
hyacinthus tables counted.
Station 3 Pago Pago Harbor, Utulei. 13-Oct-02 (Latitude 14° 17.02'S, Longitude 170° 40.67'W)
The site is a reef in the vicinity of the Pago Pago sewage outfall pipeline that extends ca. 75 m
from shore across the reef flat and down the reef slope at south end of Utulei Beach. The reef
flat is ca. 0.5 m deep and with coarse sand pits 3-4 m deep stabilized by Caulerpa sp. algae and
littered with rubble in pebble to cobble size ranges. Boulders of basalt rock that stabilize the
sewer pipe are heavily covered with a small barnacle (Chthamalus sp.) near the shore. Towards
the reef crest rubble increased in size, but was less abundant, and coral cover increased across
this zone from