American Samoa's Marine Protected Area System: Institutions, Governance, and Scale

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

1 Jane Lubchenco, Making Waves: The Science and Politics of Ocean Protection, 350 Science 382 (2015) (estimating global MPA coverage at 3.5 percent, with only 1.6 percent “strongly protected”).

2 U.N. GAOR, 68th Sess., at 14.5, U.N. Doc. A/68/970 (August 12, 2014).

3 Convention on Biological Diversity, Aichi Biodiversity Targets: Target 11, https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/ (last visited October 4, 2016).

4 Id.

5 Lubchenco, supra note 1; Mark J. Costello & Bill Ballantine, Biodiversity Conservation Should Focus on No-Take Marine Reserves: 94% of Marine Protected Areas Allow Fishing, 30 Trends Ecology & Evolution 507 (2015).

6 IUCN World Parks Congress, A Strategy of Innovative Approaches and Recommendations to Enhance Implementation of Marine Conservation in the Next Decade 1 (2014), http://worldparkscongress.org/downloads/approaches/ThemeM.pdf.

7 IUCN World Conservation Congress, September 9, 2016, Members Assembly Motion 053: Increasing marine protected area coverage for effective marine biodiversity conservation, https://portals.iucn.org/congress/motion/053.

8 Lubchenco, supra note 1.

9 Stuart H. M. Butchart et al., Shortfalls and Solutions for Meeting National and Global Conservation Area Targets, 8 Conservation Letters 329 (2015).

10 Id.

11 Megan Barnes, Aichi Targets: Protect Biodiversity, Not Just Area, 526 Nature 195 (2015).

12 James E. M. Watson et al., Bolder Science Needed Now for Protected Areas, 30 Conservation Biology 2 (2016).

13 Barnes, supra note 11.

14 Graham J. Edgar et al., Global Conservation Outcomes Depend on Marine Protected Areas with Five Key Features, 506 Nature 216 (2014); Jaime Speed Rossiter & Arielle Levine, What Makes a “Successful” Marine Protected Area? The Unique Context of Hawaii's Fish Replenishment Areas, 44 Marine Pol'y 196 (2014).

15 Peter Kareiva, Conservation Biology: Beyond Marine Protected Areas, 16 Current Biology R533 (2006).

16 Joshua E. Cinner et al., Comanagement of Coral Reef Social-Ecological Systems, 109 Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. 5219 (2012); Helen E. Fox et al., Reexamining the Science of Marine Protected Areas: Linking Knowledge to Action, 5 Conservation Letters 1 (2012).

17 Tundy Agardy, Dangerous Targets? Unresolved Issues and Ideological Clashes Around Marine Protected Areas, 13 Aquatic Conservation: Marine & Freshwater Ecosystems 353 (2003); Leanne Fernandes, Establishing Representative No-Take Areas in the Great Barrier Reef: Large-Scale Implementation of Theory on Marine Protected Areas, 19 Conservation Biology 1733 (2005).

18 P. Christie & Alan T. White, Best Practices for Improved Governance of Coral Reef Marine Protected Areas, 26 Coral Reefs 1047–1056 (2007); Fox et al., supra note 16; Robert S. Pomeroy et al., How Is Your MPA Doing? A Methodology for Evaluating the Management Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas, 48 Ocean & Coastal Mgmt. 485 (2005).

19 Natalie Ban et al., Recasting Shortfalls of Marine Protected Areas as Opportunities Through Adaptive Management, 22 Aquatic Conservation: Marine & Freshwater Ecosystems 262 (2012); Timothy McClanahann et al., Factors Influencing Resource Users and Managers' Perceptions Towards Marine Protected Area Management in Kenya, 32 Envtl. Conservation 42 (2005); Michael B. Mascia, The Human Dimension of Coral Reef Marine Protected Areas: Recent Social Science Research and Its Policy Implications, 17 Conservation Biology 630 (2003).

20 P.J.S. Jones, Governing Marine Protected Areas: Social-Ecological Resilience Through Institutional Diversity, 41 Marine Pol'y 5 (2013); Fikret Berkes, Cross-Scale Institutional Linkages: Perspectives from the Bottom Up, in The Drama of the Commons: Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change 293 (Elinor Ostrom et al. eds., 2002).

21 Nicolas L. Gutierrez et al., Leadership, Social Capital and Incentives Promote Successful Fisheries, 470 Nature 386 (2011); Emily T. Saarman & Mark H. Carr, The California Marine Life Protection Act: A Balance of Top Down and Bottom Up Governance in MPA Planning, 41 Marine Pol'y 41 (2013).

22 Wanfei Qiu, The Sanya Coral Reef National Marine Nature Reserve, China: A Governance Analysis, 41 Marine Pol'y 50 (2013); Bonnie J. McCay & Peter J.S. Jones, Marine Protected Areas and the Governance of Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries, 25 Conservation Biology 1130 (2011); McClanahann et al., supra note 19.

23 See Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (1990); Rossiter & Levine, supra note 14; Joshua E. Cinner & Shankar Aswani, Integrating Customary Management into Marine Conservation, 140 Biological Conservation 201 (2007); Kareiva, supra note 15; Paige West et al., Parks and Peoples: The Social Impact of Protected Areas, 35 Ann. Rev. Anthropology 251 (2006).

24 Merrily Stover, Individual Land Tenure in American Samoa, 11 Contemporary Pac. 69, 71 (1999).

25 International Business Publications, Samoa American Country Study Guide 194 (2011).

26 Lucy Jacob & Risa Oram, Marine Protected Area Master Plan (2012).

27 US Gen. Acc. Off., GAO/OGC-98-5, Report to the Chairman, Comm. on Resources, House of Representatives: U.S. Insular Areas Application to the U.S. Constitution (1997), available at http://www.gao.gov/archive/1998/og98005.pdf.

28 Matai are holders of family chief title under the aiga system.

29 Kevin Armstrong, David Herdrich, & Arielle Levine, Historic Fishing Methods in American Samoa (NOAA Technical Memorandum 2011), available at https://pifsc-www.irc.noaa.gov/tech/NOAA_Tech_Memo_PIFSC_24.pdf.

30 Arielle Levine & Fatima Sauafea-Leau, Traditional Knowledge, Use, and Management of Living Marine Resources in American Samoa, 67 Pac. Sci. 395 (2013).

31 Letter from Governor Tauese Sunia to Lelei Peau, Chairperson of Am. Sam. Governor's Coral Reef Advisory Group (August 2, 2000).

32 Barnes, supra note 11; Jonas Geldmann et al., Changes in Protected Area Management Effectiveness over Time, 191 Biological Conservation 692 (2015).

33 CRAG Cooperative Agreement, GM No. 003–2006 (2006).

34 “Reef area” is herein defined as hard-bottom substrate to a maximum depth of 150 meters.

35 See Figure 1, infra & Table 1, infra.

36 Table 1, supra.

37 15 C.F.R. §§ 922.103–.105 (2012).

38 Table 1, supra.

39 An Act to Establish the National Park of American Samoa, Pub. L. No. 100–571, § 2, 102 Stat. 2879 (1988).

40 Personal communication between authors and T. Clark.

41 Am. Samoa Admin. Code § 26. 0221(B).

42 Id. § 26. 0208(D)(2)(m)(4).

43 Arielle S. Levine & Laurie S. Richmond, Examining Enabling Conditions for Community-Based Fisheries Comanagement: Comparing Efforts in Hawai'i and American Samoa, 19 Ecology & Soc'y 24 (2014).

44 Am. Sam. Admin. Code § 24.1004(f) (2016).

45 Armstrong, Herdrich & Levine, supra note 29.

46 Table 1, supra.

47 Merrily Stover, Individual Land Tenure in American Sāmoa, 11 Contemp. Pac. 69 (2009).

48 Only Fagamalo has a long-term no-take area; Sa'ilele and Alega are flexible no-take areas under the CFMP.

49 American Samoa Chiefs Charged with Attempted Murder (Radio New Zealand broadcast November 4, 2005), http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/158456/american-samoa-chiefs-charged-with-attempted-murder.

50 La Poasa, Fagamalo Officials Found Guilty in Fishery Reserve Case, Samoa News [Pago Pago], July 14, 2006, at 1 & 11.

51 Levine & Richmond, supra note 43.

52 R.G. Oram, Marine Protected Area Program Master Plan: A Manual to Guide the Establishment and Management of No-Take Marine Protected Areas (2008), available at http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/pdfs/sam/Oram2008AS.pdf.

53 Rossiter & Levine, supra note 14, at 196–203.

54 Tundi Agardy, Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, & Patrick Christie, Mind the Gap: Addressing the Shortcomings of Marine Protected Areas Through Large Scale Marine Spatial Planning, 35 Marine Pol'y 226 (2011); Edgar et al., supra note 14, at 216–220.

55 Alison L. Green et al., Larval Dispersal and Movement Patterns of Coral Reef Fishes, and Implications for Marine Reserve Network Design, 90 Biological Revs. 1215 (2014).

56 Id.; Unpublished data, Am. Sam. Dep't of Marine and Wildlife Res.

57 Levine & Richmond, supra note 43, at 9–17.

58 Fikret Berkes, Cross-Scale Institutional Linkages: Perspectives From the Bottom Up, in The Drama of the Commons 293–323 (E.U. Weber, E. Ostrom, T. Dietz, N. Dolsak, P.C. Stern, S. Stonich eds., 2002).