Pago Bay is the largest bay on the U.S. territory of

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, located at the mouth of

Pago River The Pago River is one of the longest rivers in the United States territory of Guam. It is fed by two inland rivers, Lonfit River and Sigua River. Rising close to the west coast, it traverses the island, flowing into the sea at Pago Bay in the cen ...

on the island's eastern coast. There is extensive evidence of CHamoru settlement before Spanish colonization during the late seventeenth century. During the Spanish-Chamorro Wars, the Spanish transferred the populations of

Tinian Tinian () is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern ...

and

Aguigan Aguijan (; ; also Aguiguan and Aguihan, based on the Spanish rendition of the native name) is a small bean-shaped uninhabited coralline island in the Northern Mariana Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean. It is situated south-west of Tinian, from ...

to the village of Pago (). However, a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

epidemic in 1856 killed much of the village's population and the Spanish moved survivors to other villages, leaving the bay shoreline largely uninhabited. The bay is popular with fishermen and recreationalists, and was the site of new housing development in the 2000s.

Geography and ecology

Pago Bay is . The mouth of the

is along the southwestern shore of Pago Bay. The Pago River, which is itself fed by the Lonfit and

Sigua River The Sigua River is a river in the United States territory of Guam. It empties into the Pago River The Pago River is one of the longest rivers in the United States territory of Guam. It is fed by two inland rivers, Lonfit River and Sigua River. R ...

s, is the boundary between the

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of Chalan Pago-Ordot to the north and

Yona The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit, were used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Gr ...

to the south. The shoreline of

Mangilao Mangilao is a village on the eastern shore of the United States territory of Guam. The village's population has decreased slightly since the island's 2010 census. Cliffs lie along much of the village's shoreline provide dramatic views, including ...

, notably the Marine Lab of the

University of Guam University of Guam () (U.O.G.) is a public university, public land-grant university in Mangilao, Guam. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and offers thirty-four degree programs at the undergraduate level and ele ...

lies along the northeast bay, outside of the

fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

. The east of the bay opens to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The average annual rainfall is , with a mean tidal range of . The bay is exposed to the easterly and northeasterly

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere ...

. The Frank Perez Park, a public recreation area, is located northeast of the river mouth. Pago Bay may be divided into four habitat zones, three of which are features of the fringing reef: the Pago River channel; the shallow reef flats around the channel; a reef crest at the outer edge that dissipates most of the waves coming in from the open Pacific; and a fore reef, descending from the reef crest into the ocean. The river channel is about wide, deepening to about at the reef crest. The channel is largely uncolonized

benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.turf algae An algae scrubber is a water filtering device which uses light to grow algae; in this process, undesirable chemicals are removed from the water. Algae scrubbers allow hobbyists to operate their saltwater or freshwater tanks or ponds using nat ...

crustose Crustose is a Habit (biology), habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the Substrate (biology), substrates at all poin ...

coralline algae Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of re ...

and

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

, with small areas of

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

shoreward. The fore reef has between 10-50%

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

cover and a slope of 4.7-8.9° between .

History

Pago likely derives its name from the CHamoru word ''Pågu'' for ''

Hibiscus tiliaceus ''Hibiscus tiliaceus'', commonly known as the sea hibiscus or coast cottonwood, is a species of flowering tree in the mallow family, Malvaceae, with a pantropical distribution along coastlines. It has also been introduced to Florida and New Zeal ...

'', a flowering

hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Malva, mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising List of Hibiscus species, several hundred species that are Native plant, native to warm temperate, Subtropics, subtropical ...

that grew wild in the area. There are many archeological finds along both sides of the mouth of the river from the

Latte Latte () or caffè latte (), also known as , or , is a List of coffee drinks, coffee drink of Italian cuisine, Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk, traditionally served in a glass. Variants include the chocolate-flavored ''caf ...

Period (900-1521), including an earth-oven, human burials, pottery fragments, shells ornaments, and many other artifacts. Two pieces of

ambergris Ambergris ( or ; ; ), ''ambergrease'', or grey amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales. Freshly produced ambergris has a marine, fecal odor. It acquires a sw ...

with similar shapes are the only indication in Guam's archeological record that ambergris was used by ancient CHamorus for some purpose. During the Spanish-Chamorro Wars of the late seventeenth century, the Spanish colonizers relocated CHamorus into centralized towns, a process of

villagization Villagization (sometimes also spelled ''villagisation'') is the usually compulsory resettlement of people into designated villages by government or military authorities. Security Villagization may be used as a tactic by a government or military ...

to better control the population known as the ''Reducción''. By 1680, Pago was one of seven towns on Guam. Pago and Ritidian were the centers of the final large-scale uprising against Spanish rule in 1683. In 1689, the enshrinement of

Santa Marian Kamalen Santa Marian Kamalen also known as Our Lady of Camarin and informally known as Dulce Nombre ''(English: Sweet Name)'' is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a carved Molave tree, molave wood and ivory image venerated by the Roman Cat ...

at the church in Pago was attended by Ignacio Hineti, Antonio Ayhi and other prominent pro-Spanish CHamoru Christians. As the ''Reducción'' of the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

continued, the Spanish relocated thousands of CHamorus from the northern islands of

and

to six villages on Guam, including Pago. The name of Chalan Pago, a community in the village of Chalan Pago-Ordot, translates as "Pago Road," as it lay between the capitol Hagåtña and Pago. In 1856, Guam experienced a smallpox epidemic that killed an estimated 60% of the population. The population of the entire island fell to 3,644. Pago was abandoned, with the survivors moving to other villages. The area was briefly used as a

leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

in the early 1890s.

Folk tale: the giant fish that ate Guam

Pago Bay is integral to a CHamoru folktale explaining why Guam has a narrow central "waist." A long time ago, goes the story, fishermen at Pago and across the island at Hagåtña Bay noticed that their bays were growing larger, narrowing the land between Pago and Hagåtña every day. One morning, a fishermen in Pago Bay discovered that a giant fish that was eating chunks of land, causing the bays to grow further apart. All of the strong men and fishermen of the island could not find and kill the fish. Meanwhile, the young women who washed clothes (which dates the story to after the Spanish introduction of clothes) at the spring at the head of the

Hagåtña River The Hagåtña River is a river in the United States territory of Guam. Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, the capital of Guam, is located at the mouth of the river and associated wetlands form the eastern boundary of the city. The river mouth is depicted ...

scented the clothes with fresh lemon, leaving the water covered in lemon peels. One day, a maiden in Pago noticed lemon peels floating in Pago Bay and realized that the giant fish had eaten a tunnel underneath the island between Pago and Hagåtña. The maidens gathered at Hagåtña Springs and cut off their long black hair to make a magical net and started to sing. They sang for hours and the fish was entranced and came to the surface, where the maidens captured it with their net. This is how they saved Guam and why the island has such a narrow middle.

Modern history

A land use application in 2008 to build 98 house lots in southern Pago Bay in

, which evolved into a proposed 300-unit building with 15-story towers, led to a decade of controversy. Protesters stated that the towers would block the iconic views along the Pago River Bridge and

Guam Highway 4 Guam Highway 4 (GH-4) is one of the primary automobile highways in the United States territory of Guam. Route description GH-4 is the major highway along the southeastern coast of Guam, comprising the majority of a loop around the southern half o ...

, with one Chamoru man bringing up the ancient legend: "It's a 21st century ''dangkolo na guihan'', giant fish, ''makakanno I tano gi Pago Bay'', eating away at Pago Bay land." By 2017, the proposed project had become the Pago Bay Ocean Resort with two condominiums up to 12 stories, removing the proposed marina and creation of an artificial sandy beach. The Guam Land Use Commission approved a less aggressive project. However, the developers have run afoul of regulators regarding reburial of ancient human remains and missing deadlines to give updates to the Guam Land Use Commission. The

began a

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

data collection and management plan for the Pago Bay watershed in 2015. Called "Builders of a Better Bay," it uses student researchers to collect data on turbidity and water level, as well as interview historical experts about the cultural significance of the area. In February 2021, a breath-hold spearfisherman drowned and was recovered in the bay.

References

{{Guam Bays of Guam Yona, Guam Populated places in Guam