American Samoa Shore-based Creel Survey

The DMWR staff has also conducted shore-based creel surveys which also have 2 major sub-surveys; one to estimate participation (fishing effort), and one to provide catch-rate, species composition, and size frequency data. The amount of area covered by the surveys has varied over the years from just a central part of Tutuila to 3 separate routes on Tutuila plus sampling on the Manu'a Islands of Ofu-Olesega and Ta'u. There was a break in survey coverage for a number of years due to resource limitations, but surveys on Tutuila have been conducted again since about 2001. There has been some break in coverage over the years due to various hurricanes and a major tsunami, but generally speaking the surveys have been conducted routinely and in a fairly standardized manner. Not all areas of the islands are covered due to resource limitations. These data are considered confidential.