U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Rose Atoll Marine National Monument Rose Atoll Marine National Monument Human History consists of approximately 13,451 square The early Polynesians of Samoa likely miles of emergent and submerged lands visited the atoll periodically over the past and waters of and around Rose Atoll millennium or more, and the atoll has a in American Samoa. It includes Rose Samoan name “Motu o Manu,” literally Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, with meaning “island of seabirds.” Captain approximately 21 acres of emergent Louise de Freycinet christened the isle land and 1,600 acres of lagoon. The “Rose” on October 21, 1819, after his monument’s outer boundary is wife who was traveling with him at the approximately 50 nautical miles from the time. mean low water line of Rose Atoll. The first scientist to land on the island Presidential Proclamation 8337 was probably Dr. Charles Pickering, a established Rose Atoll Marine National physician naturalist who explored the atoll Monument in January 2009 and assigned in 1839. Rose Atoll has been the subject management responsibility to the of approximately 300 papers and reports Secretary of the Interior, in consultation over the last century. These describe the with the Secretary of Commerce. The geology, geography, biology, meteorology, Secretary of Commerce, through the and history of the area. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has primary management Rose Island has sustained only brief responsibility for fishery-related activities human habitation in recent history. In the Coral garden and fish and is to initiate the process to add the 1860s, a short-lived attempt was made Photo credit: Phillip Colla monument’s marine areas to the Fagatele by a German firm to establish a fishing Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The station and coconut plantation at Rose Existing uses are limited to research Government of American Samoa will be Atoll. Sand Island is a shifting sand bank and monitoring activities carried out by a cooperating agency in development of a and could not support human habitation. the Fish and Wildlife Service, National monument management plan. Marine Fisheries Service, and the In October 1993, the 120-foot Taiwanese American Samoa government. Because Rose Atoll is located approximately 130 longline fishing vessel F/V Jin Shiang Rose Atoll is one of the most unique and nautical miles east-southeast of Pago Fa ran hard aground and broke up within least visited areas of the world, its marine Pago Harbor, American Samoa. It is weeks on the reef on the southwest arm and terrestrial communities provide a the easternmost Samoan island and the of the atoll. As a result of the grounding, unique opportunity for research and southernmost point of the United States. the entire 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel afford an invaluable scientific baseline for aboard the vessel was discharged into biological and geological studies of the Rose Atoll is nearly square, with the the marine environment. Supported by low Pacific islands. ocean-side slopes about 1.5 miles in the ship’s insurance, limited salvage length. It is one of the smallest atolls in operations were attempted within a month Marine Resources the world and includes two low sandy and were successful in removing the One of the most striking features of Rose islets, Rose and Sand, located on a bow section of the wreck. However, the Atoll is the pink hue of the fringing reef, coralline algal reef enclosing a lagoon. rest of the wreck deteriorated quickly, caused by the dominance of a crustose The lagoon is about 1.2 miles wide and dissolved iron from the wreckage coralline algae that is also the primary and up to about 65 feet deep. Rose and stimulated invasive blue-green algae and reef-building species at the atoll in Sand Islands are about 14 and 7 acres prevented natural recovery of coralline shallow depths. respectively. algae within the grounding area. Rose Atoll’s outer reef slope is located on In 2004, the U.S. Coast Guard awarded the seaward side of the atoll and consists Fish and Wildlife Service $1.3 million of an irregular and often steep slope down from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to a depth of more than 650 feet, presently to remove the rest of the shipwreck dominated by mixed corals and coralline and monitor reef recovery for 15 years. algae to depths of 150 feet. In some areas, In 2007, the last remaining debris was a shallow reef terrace is located on the removed from the atoll, and monitoring of upper slope before the reef plunges almost reef recovery will continue into the future. vertically to deeper waters. Spur and Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, 2 groove formations occur on the shallow at shallow reef terrace in some locations. The reef depths including flat is hard consolidated substratum that is tunicates, stalked exposed during monthly spring tides. crinoids, many fish, and unusual The lagoon is almost entirely enclosed sea stars. by shallow perimeter reefs, except for a narrow channel on the northwest side. The two islands About 15 patch reefs reach the lagoon at Rose Atoll are sea surface from depths of 20 to 50 feet important nesting and are concentrated on the southwestern sites for the half of the lagoon. The lagoon floor is threatened green sandy with a few isolated Acropora table- and endangered coral patches on the bottom and scattered hawksbill turtles around the perimeter of the flat-topped, in American steep-sided pinnacles that extend up to the Samoa. Satellite surface. tags attached to Coral communities at Rose presently the nesting green Rose Atoll coral head include 113 species and are distinctive turtles at Rose have shown that these Photo credit: James Maragos and quite different from those of the other turtles migrate between American Samoa islands in Samoa. Dominant corals at and other Pacific island nations (i.e., Fiji and perennial growing season. Frequent Rose include Favia, Acropora, Porites, and French Polynesia). In addition to the tropical storms and hurricanes cause Montipora, Astreopora, Montastrea, and migratory breeding population of turtles at severe damage in the forest. Pocillopora. the atoll during the nesting season (August to February), a small apparently resident Sand Island is a small sand bank located Despite its small size, Rose supports the population of juveniles lives on the atoll. on the lagoon side of the reef due east largest populations of giant clams, nesting of the channel opening. It also is oval in sea turtles, nesting seabirds, and rare Endangered humpback whales, pilot shape and approximately the same height species of reef fish in American Samoa. whales, and dolphins in the genus Stenella as Rose Island. It has been vegetated have all been seen at Rose Atoll. in the past with at least two species of The fish communities at Rose are also vascular plants. Currently, however, distinct from others in the Samoan Terrestrial Resources the bank is swept clean of vegetation, Archipelago. Fish density is very high Rose Island is located on the eastern probably due to recent hurricanes. and species diversity is moderately high corner of the atoll. It is roughly oval and at Rose Atoll. However, fish biomass is has a maximum elevation of about 8 feet. Insect fauna at Rose Atoll are poorly relatively low due to the dominance of It consists of raised reef rock and soft known. Sphinx moth caterpillars, gnats, small, planktivorous species. The fish limestone composed of worn fragments of flies, crickets, ants, beetles, scale insects, assemblages at Rose also differ from reef building organisms. The phosphatic and earthworms have been observed. Two the rest of the archipelago by having a soil is rich in humus that has developed species of land hermit crabs occur in high much lower density of herbivorous fishes on the substrate beneath a previously large densities on both Rose and Sand Islands. (especially parrotfishes and damselfishes) grove of Pisonia trees. and a high density of planktivorous Rose Atoll is the most important seabird and carnivorous fishes (especially Rose Island has been vegetated throughout colony in the region, since approximately unicornfishes and snappers). recent history, but older studies indicate 97 percent of the seabird population of that it was home to only one or two American Samoa resides on Rose. The To date, about 270 species of reef fish species of vascular plants. The current two islands provide important nesting and have been recorded and surveys have flora of Rose Island is more complex, roosting habitat for 12 species of federally indicated little change in the reef fish perhaps as a result of the Fish and Wildlife protected migratory seabirds. composition in the past 15 years. Pelagic Service’s successful eradication of fish species found outside the lagoon introduced rats in 1993. Only one year after removal of rats, include various species of tuna, mahimahi, two species of shearwaters landed on billfish, barracuda, and sharks. A new The only Pisonia forest community Rose Island, the first record of any species of cardinal fish was collected remaining in Samoa is found on Rose Procellariform bird since ornithological and described from the lagoon at Rose in Island. Alien species of ants and scale observations began. Additionally, five 2006. Deep diving submersible surveys in insects have attacked the Pisonia forest species of federally protected migratory 2005 sponsored by the Hawaii Undersea during the past decade, leaving only a shorebirds and one species of forest bird, Research Laboratory and Fish and few healthy trees still alive and standing. the long-tailed cuckoo (a migrant from Wildlife Service revealed a plethora of Aside from this, vegetation at Rose is New Zealand), use the atoll for feeding, species and life forms not observed luxuriant due to the high annual rainfall resting, and roosting.