The Devolution of Marine Sanctuary Development in American Sāmoa

• In Event: Imperial Imaginings: Land, and Resource Use in Practice in the Pacific and the East China Sea

Abstract

Since the Deeds of Cession at the turn of the twentieth century, local authority in American Sāmoa has remained under the control of the local indigenous population, while global concerns, such as defense and trade, have been the domain of the U.S. federal government. After a 1961 Reader’s Digest article accused the federal government of harboring a third world colony in the Pacific, the U.S. Congress invested more money into development projects for American Sāmoa. The primary focus of American-supported growth for the region during the second half of the twentieth century involved the encouragement of tuna canning and commercial fishing out of Pago Pago harbor. Not until the 1986, with the creation of the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, did the U.S. federal government officially sanction a specific environmental protection program in the area. Until then, resource management focused on supporting for-profit fisheries. The 0.25 square mile protected marine area of Fagatele Bay was a cooperative decision and agreement among the American Sāmoan government, local indigenous landowners, and the federal Office of Marine Sanctuaries. In contrast, the 2012 sanctuary expansion into the largest of all 13 sanctuaries under U.S. jurisdiction (13,581 square miles) was rife with contention. This presentation will highlight the importance of acknowledging and incorporating customary indigenous practices and values into imperial environmental policy creation through a compare and contrast between the two phases of National Marine Sanctuary development in American Sāmoa. While the initial creation of these federally protected waters aligned with native customs and mores, the later phase of expansion utilized a top-down approach that resulted in a storm of debates and lack of community support. Over time, national marine sanctuary development in American Sāmoa has devolved from a collaborative decision-making process to a detached bureaucratized procedure disdained by the local community.

Author

• JoAnna Poblete, Claremont Graduate University