ABSTRACTCoral skeletal structures can provide a robust record of nuclear bomb produced ¹⁴C with valuable insight into air-sea exchange processes and water movement with applications to fisheries science. To expand these records in the South Pacific, a coral core from Tutuila Island, American Samoa was dated with density band counting covering a 59-yr period (1953–2012). Seasonal signals in elemental ratios (Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca) and stable carbon (δ¹³C) values across the coral core corroborated the well-defined annual band structure and highlighted an ocean climate shift from the 1997–1998 El Niño. The American Samoa coral ¹⁴C measurements were consistent with other regional records but included some notable differences across the South Pacific Gyre (SPG) at Fiji, Rarotonga, and Easter Island that can be attributed to decadal ocean climate cycles, surface residence times and proximity to the South Equatorial Current. An analysis of the post-peak ¹⁴C decline associated with each coral record indicated ¹⁴C levels are beginning to merge for the SPG. This observation, coupled with otolith measurements from American Samoa, reinforces the perspective that bomb ¹⁴C dating can be performed on fishes and other marine organisms of the region using the post-peak ¹⁴C decline to properly inform fisheries management in the South Pacific.