A National Geographic Pristine Seas expedition has arrived in Samoa this week to survey the marine biodiversity of the South Pacific nation’s newly established network of marine protected areas – waters that are home to nearly 1,000 recorded fish species, 200 species of coral, and critical habitat for endangered humpback whales and hawksbill sea turtles.

The expedition, conducted at the invitation of and in partnership with Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, follows the formal signing of the country’s Marine Spatial Plan in April 2026, when Prime Minister Laʻauli Leuatea Schmidt signed the executive order bringing the legislation into effect. 

The plan expands Samoa’s national marine protections through nine new offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and a formalised network of coastal community MPAs, together covering 30% of Samoa’s ocean – approximately 36,000 square kilometres.

Many of these newly protected areas have never been comprehensively studied by scientists. The Pristine Seas team will survey reef, mid-ocean and deepwater sites across the MPA network, including the offshore seamounts of the Toamoana MPA, the deep reef slopes off northern Savai’i, and inshore areas around Upolu and Savai’i where scientific data remains limited. Sites outside the MPAs will also be surveyed.

Samoa’s Prime Minister and Acting Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Laaulialemalietoa Polataivao Fosi Schmidt, said the expedition was a direct response to the country’s own identified research priorities. 

“Samoa has taken an important step by bringing its Marine Spatial Plan into effect, but effective ocean management must be supported by strong scientific information,” he said. 

“This expedition responds directly to research priorities identified by Samoa and will strengthen our understanding of biodiversity within our new marine protected areas, as well as the ecological connections across our wider ocean. The findings will provide an important baseline for long-term monitoring and help guide effective implementation and management of our MSP.”

Working aboard Pristine Seas’ research vessel the Argo, a team of local and international scientists will conduct SCUBA surveys, deploy deep-sea cameras for overnight footage collection, float video systems ten metres below the surface and survey seabird populations above the waves. 

Environmental DNA sampling will allow the team to identify organisms not visible to cameras or the naked eye by sequencing small fragments of biological material collected from the water column. Scientists and Samoan partners will also descend in the Pristine Seas submersible Argonauta – equipped with imaging sonar, mud and water samplers and near-360-degree underwater visibility – to observe the twilight zone, the deep-sea frontier that remains one of the least understood environments on earth.

Paul Rose, head of the Pristine Seas expedition to Samoa, said: “Amid headlines about dying coral reefs, warming ocean waters and rising sea levels, Samoa’s bold ocean stewardship is the solution the ocean and the world needs right now. By prioritising protection of the ocean – a valuable asset – they are safeguarding their cultural heritage, food supplies and local economies. At the same time, they are helping all of us stay safe by keeping the ocean healthy.”

The expedition is explicitly built around local knowledge and partnership. “Local communities have extensive knowledge of the waters we’ll research and are essential partners in designing this expedition,” said Tye Kindinger, scientific lead for the Pristine Seas expedition. “And MNRE – which regularly surveys and monitors Samoa’s resources both on land and in the ocean – is skillfully guiding our planning to ensure we focus our research on areas that have yet to be explored.”

Pristine Seas and Samoa’s Ministry of Education and Culture are co-developing ocean literacy resources for national school curricula, and this week hosted a Pacific Education subregional workshop in Apia in collaboration with The Pacific Community, bringing together educators and Ministries of Education from six countries. 

Expedition filmmakers are also documenting the work aboard the Argo and in coastal communities, with footage being gathered for a documentary that will follow the Samoa Voyaging Society as its traditional voyaging canoe becomes a floating classroom.

The expedition arrives at a politically significant moment. In October, countries will gather in Armenia for the CBD COP17 nature summit to assess global progress toward the 30×30 target – protecting 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030. 

“Samoa has shown the Pacific and the world how this can be achieved,” said Kevin Chand, Pristine Seas’ Senior Director of Pacific Ocean Policy. “By incorporating science into their Marine Spatial Planning implementation process, they are ensuring that the biodiversity they have protected is studied and understood to support future monitoring and management efforts, including strengthening of protection.”

The Samoa expedition is part of Pristine Seas’ five-year Global Expedition, which launched in 2023 with a mission to explore and support ocean protection across the tropical Pacific. Samoa is the 12th nation visited, following expeditions to the Southern Line Islands, Tongareva, Niue, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

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