$4.6M to restore coral reef in American Samoa

A new $4.6-million multi-institute collaborative project to help grow coral restoration capacity in American Samoa will begin in early 2026, leveraging more than two decades of coral heat tolerance studies to inform a restoration with resilience approach.

The project will bring together partners from American Samoa Community College, University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program, American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, UH Mānoa and Old Dominion University with local agencies and village leaders to focus on restoring healthy coral reefs and training the next generation of natural resource managers.

American Samoa has some of the healthiest coral reefs within inhabited US waters that are exceptionally heat tolerant, as well as the world’s oldest continuously monitored coral reef transect, making it an excellent coral reef study site. American Samoa also has the highest rate of relative sea-level rise recorded within the NOAA global tide gauge network.

Since the fringing reef crests (the shallow part of the reef where the waves break) remove up to 97% of wave energy before reaching the shore, maintaining healthy reefs is key to protecting the land. Coral restoration, where corals are grown and outplanted onto the reef, is one method of helping reefs recover from impacts such as storms and ship groundings.

Understanding heat tolerant corals

Researchers have made progress in understanding the environmental and genetic drivers of heat tolerant corals.

“Heat tolerance is key for coral survival due to the increase in marine heatwaves causing mass coral bleaching and coral die-offs,” said Kelley Anderson Tagarino, UH Sea Grant College Program extension agent in American Samoa and co-lead on the project. “By ensuring some of the corals in our restoration nurseries are heat tolerant, we can help our reefs have a better chance to withstand marine heatwaves. American Samoa has long been known to have highly resilient corals, and now we will be able to weave together local knowledge with Western science to help our reefs continue to protect our islands and feed our people.”

Funding student positions

The project includes funding for three graduate student positions for residents of American Samoa to study coral restoration at either UH Mānoa or Old Dominion University, and will provide support for local positions focused on coral restoration in partnership with the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources.

Oceana Francis, professor in the UH Mānoa Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering and coastal sustainability faculty with the UH Sea Grant College Program, will provide critical project support by conducting hydrodynamic modeling (understanding how our ocean water moves) to help identify suitable places for the restoration nurseries as well as which shorelines are at most risk to flooding. These areas will be prioritized for coral restoration outplanting.

Funding for this project will also support a continuation of the American Samoa Community College Swim and Snorkel program, which trains youth on swim and snorkel techniques as well as providing basic water safety training. Programs like Swim and Snorkel help empower the next generation of ocean users and reduce barriers to joining projects like coral restoration.

The project was funded by the NOAA Coastal Zone Management program.