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A good thing is worth waiting for — two 2014 DMWR calendars on tap

The Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR) is in the midst of producing two calendars for 2014 — one being the first calendar featuring photographs of local fish common in the territory’s reef areas.

 

DMWR Education Coordinator Malia Vaofanua told Samoa News last week that the delay in releasing the 2014 fisheries calendar is due to production issues, although they anticipate the calendar to be ready for release later this month.

 

The calendar is free of charge and a total of 1,000 copies will be available for the public.  

 

Photographs being highlighted in the calendar include common local fish such as the agae, poge, and alogo.

 

Funding for the fisheries calendar is from the Sport Fish Restoration Grant.

 

Also in the works is another first — an American Samoa wildlife calendar.

 

Two months ago, DMWR chief wildlife biologist Dr. Nicole Suzanne Dauphine started soliciting photos with the plan “to create an eye-catching, educational wall calendar made up of photos of wildlife in American Samoa.”

 

Local residents of all ages were invited to submit high quality photos of the territory’s wildlife, including birds, bats, butterflies, crabs, turtles, whales and other animals — to compete in the calendar photo contest.

 

The official results of the contest are yet to be made public, although Dauphine said in an earlier interview with Samoa News that winning contributors will be rewarded with photo credit prominently displayed in the calendar, and ten free copies of the calendar to distribute to family and friends.

 

She said they do not intend to sell the calendars, although donations will be accepted and will go towards the wildlife rehabilitation program because it receives no grant funding to operate.

 

The 2014 wildlife calendar will feature the elusive Spotless Crake, which was photographed in free form for the first time ever at the Laufuti Stream in Ta’u, Manu’a last year.

 

(The Spotless Crake is one of American Samoa’s rarest birds and has no Samoan name. It was discovered in Ta’u, Manu’a — the only place it is known to exist — in 1923 and has only been sighted a handful of times).

 

More information on the DMWR calendars can be obtained by calling 633-4456 or visiting their office behind the Fagatogo Marketplace.