Battling to control destructive crown-of-thorns starfish

Great Barrier Reef

Shaun Hollis

Journalist

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Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority divers are taking part in a $160m program across eight years to remove crown-of-thorns starfish. Picture: GBRMPA

Crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks continue to threaten the health of coral offshore of Port Douglas, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chief scientist says.

The November reef health update, put together following close to 500 surveys done by the authority last month, shows northern and southern regions of the marine park -  stretching more than 2300km south from Cape York - were being impacted the most by the coral-eating pest.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chief scientist Dr Roger Beeden said the $160m crown-of-thorns control program was targeting several specific areas in those regions, including off the coast of Port Douglas.

“This is really important, it’s why we gather this information through the year,” Dr Beeden said.

“So we can target our management efforts to offset some of the pressures that have come about as a result of the coral bleaching earlier in the year.”

In March the reef authority announced the park was experiencing a mass coral-bleaching event.

Dr Beeden said programs such as this one were “crucial in terms of protecting the resilience of the reef as the climate changes.”

The latest Bureau of Meteorology State of the Climate report, which looks at long-term weather trends in Australia, found sea-surface temperature had increased by about 1.1C since 1900. 

This, and other factors such as fishing, coastal development and farming, can all influence how many outbreaks occur and how severe they are.

“Under the right conditions COTS numbers can explode to plague proportions,” Dr Beeden said.

“When this occurs their taste for coral becomes a significant problem as their combined appetite can lead to rapid coral loss and degradation of reef habitats.”

Crown-of-thorns starfish feed exclusively on live coral and can eat about half a dinner plate worth each day.

Previous outbreaks were believed to have been responsible for about 40 per cent of total coral losses across the park.

The crown-of-thorns control program was expanded in 2012, with more than 130,000 diver hours employed to cull more than 1.2 million starfish.

The program has received more than $160m in Federal Government funding to operate from 2022-30.

Across the next three years, the aim is to put in another more than 55,000 dive hours removing more of the destructive starfish.

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