Bureau of Statistics

ii Status of the Coral Reef Ecosystems of Guam iii Guam is the southernmost island in the Mariana Archipelago, located at 13o 28 ' N, 144o 45 ' E. It is the largest and most heavily populated island in Micronesia. The island possesses a variety of coral reef habitat types with a combined area of approximately 69 km2 in nearshore waters (Hunter, 1995). Over 5000 species of major coral reef organisms are currently documented on Guam, or in some cases for the Mariana Islands as a whole, including over 1000 species of reef fish and over 400 species of corals (Myers and Donaldson, 2003; Paulay, 2003; Paulay et al., 2003; Randall, 2003). For thousands of years, coral reefs have sustained and protected Chamorros, the indigenous people of Guam. Traditionally, coral reef fishery resources formed a substantial part of their diet and included finfish, invertebrates, and sea turtles (Amesbury and Hunter-Anderson, 2003). Today coral reef resources are both economically and culturally important. Reef fish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, a variety of crustaceans, mollusks, and marine algae are all eaten locally and family and group fishing is still a common activity in Guam’s coastal waters. Guam’s coral reefs are also an important part of the touris