The Festival of Sites, featuring Okeanos Explorer (NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research) and hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (NMSAS), was a huge hit last month, when the Emerald and Sea Princess cruise ships called into port.

First, the tourists were treated to live Samoan siva performances, cultural demonstrations like coconut husking, and a crash course on the different sites within the NMSAS system.

During the two days that followed, local students, teachers, and community members had the chance to tour the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer. On Tuesday, April 25, the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration presentation took place at the Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center in Utulei.

Rounding up the tight schedule for the Okeanos Explorer Research (OER) Team was a special visit to the Office of Samoan Affairs (OSA), where the group was accompanied by Sanctuary staff members.

The meeting was in response to a request put forth by OSA last year in November.

“The OER Team returned to explain and discuss survey findings and results with a focus on seamounts and fisheries,” said Apulu Veronika Molio’o Mata’utia-Mortenson, NMSAS Outreach, Communications Coordinator and Community Liaison. “After 12 remotely operated dives, 15,000-sq.miles of seafloor was mapped, 30 undescribed species were collected, and 101 biological and 30 geological samples gathered,” she continued.

There was active discussion during the meeting, and a few questions were fielded by Manu’a District Governor Laolagi Vaeao and some village mayors. A video of Vailulu’u’s “Eel City” from 2005 was again played and compared to the OER team’s findings this year, which showed significant activity and extensive growth of the seamount since it was last mapped in 2012 - a growth of 1000 meters.

The significance of the meeting, according to the NMSAS, is “a continued collaboration between OER team and sanctuary staff as they work together with OSA and the public in ensuring there is deep understanding of the importance of seamounts to traditional and commercial fisheries; connection between deep-water and shallow water ecosystems; and assessment of potential tsunamigenic undersea landslides.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, Secretary of the Office of Samoan Affairs PC Mauga Tasi Asuega thanked David McKinney and the OER team for the “Su’esu’ega o le Moana o Amerika Samoa Expedition”.