Title: Assessment of Reef and Lagoon Associated Finfish in Samoa (Profish Sites)

The main objective of the study is to assess the coastal finfish fishery in Samoa. This was done by estimating the stock size within the four selected sampled sites. The sites were divided into four habitats (strata) including the coastal reef, lagoon patches, back reef and outer reef. Variability of finfish biomass density was obtained among habitats and sites. ANOVA was used to test such differences which resulted in habitats within the sites as significantly different while among the sites was the same. The trend among the habitats was biomass density, abundance, size range increases with increase distance from the shore. With known catches from the socio-economic data, the status of exploitation of the stock was evaluated. Sites with large fishing area have a higher biomass, catches, and low fishing pressure, which was vice versa for the small fishing area sites. Therefore considering the population size, the fishing pressure has an inverse relationship with accessible fishing area.