Resurvey of the Aua transect sfter the ship removal
Birkeland C and Belliveau SA. 2000. Resurvey of the Aua transect sfter the ship removal. Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources. Pago Pago, American Samoa
Two ships were removed from the reef flat south of Mayor's Aua Line; there was a 67% drop in coral abundance and a 58% decrease in living coral cover in the outer reef margin of the reef flat; this mortality could be due to the natural mortality of small juvenile corals after a particularly large recruitment pulse and not human activities; no increase in sediment or rubble lying around the transect area and the water was reasonably clear; corals were reasonably healthy; lots of crustose coralline algae, sponges, and ascidians all of which are sensitive to disturbance.