Drain the swamp! It is a timeworn cry. Swamps are wastelands, mosquito zones and trash filled dumps, right? WRONG!

Mangrove swamps (wetlands) are a very important part of our islands and crucial to healthy villages. Mangroves play a critical role in protecting coastlines from erosion and storm surges, cleaning coastal waters by filtering out some contaminants and providing habitat and food for many species of fish, crabs, lobsters, and birds.

In American Samoa there are 9 mangrove areas in: Aua, Vatia, Masefau, Aoa, Alofau, Aunu'u, Pago Pago and of course the two larger and well known mangrove areas in Leone and Nu'uuli.

Mangroves are beautiful trees that live at the mouths of streams along the coast. They have a special ability to tolerate salt, which is why they grow along the shoreline, often with their roots in the saltwater. Growing where land and sea meet, the roots of mangroves stabilize shorelines where soil and sand would otherwise wash away. Young fish living in healthy mangrove swamps eat up to 500 mosquito larvae a day.

Without healthy mangroves many ocean creatures that we rely on for food would no longer have a safe place to raise their young, and eventually some ocean front roads and buildings could fall into the sea.

The mangrove wetlands in Masefau are famous for protecting that village during the 2009 tsunami, and because it is respected and cared for by the village, it is likely the healthiest of all our mangrove swamps. Malo lava Masefau!

Unfortunately, mangroves are misunderstood and are often used as trash dumps or filled in for new development.

Many mistakes were made in the past because the value of wetlands was not fully understood. The majority of the mangrove wetlands in American Samoa have already been lost to pollution and development. We must act to save what few mangroves we have left.

The American Samoa Government now has laws to protect mangrove wetlands, yet some people ignore these laws and damage mangroves with bad habits from days gone past like careless acts of littering and illegal construction.

Mangroves are a valuable part of our island. The estimated value of the benefits that mangroves bring to American Samoa in the form of clean water, food and protection from erosion is close to $2 million a year.

It is up to each and every one of us to help protect our islands and show how proud we are of our mangroves. An easy, everyday action people can take to protect mangroves is to place litter/rubbish in covered trashcans and dumpsters so it doesn’t get washed down streams into mangrove wetlands.

Don’t Litter! Also, keep on the lookout for people filling in mangroves with dirt or rubbish and report the crime to the Department of Commerce.

Having healthy mangrove wetlands around American Samoa contributes to a healthy environment and provides our people with many resources, like clean water and food, for generations to come.

Proverbs 27:18 “Whoever tends the fig tree will eat its fruit…” In other words, take care of the natural world and you take care of yourself. Fa’asaoina le Togatogo, Save the Mangroves!