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Taʻū Small Boat Harbor

Taʻū Small Boat Harbor is located on Taʻū Island, which is approximately 66 miles east of the main island of Tutuila, American Samoa. Taʻū Small Boat Harbor was authorized under Section 107 of the River and Harbor Act of 1960, as amended. The local sponsor is the American Samoa Government (ASG). The project is in the operations and maintenance phase.

The project was completed in 1980 at a cost of $2,380,887 (Federal: $1,855,317; non-Federal: $525,570). The project consists of an entrance channel that is 420 feet long, 130 feet wide, and 16 feet deep; a turning basin that is 14 feet deep; a rubble mound breakwater that is 280 feet long; a revetment that is 425 feet long; and a groin that is 200 feet long. In 1994, a new 32-foot by 16-foot concrete dock extension was constructed using funds authorized under Section 8099(b) of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 1991 (Public Law 101-511). In 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, under its Interagency and International Services program, completed a design to reconfigure the dock to support current vessel usage. The American Samoa Government is working with the Federal Highway Administration (funding agency) to secure required permits and funding to reconstruct the dock.

Taʻū Harbor is one of two small boat harbors on Tau Island and provides a port for incoming delivery of commodities and fuel during part of the year.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining the project structures and project depths in the entrance channel and turning basin area.  Maintenance dredging was conducted in 2008.