Coral surrounding the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) could become extinct in two years, conservationists warned on Thursday, after a study showed that starfish have devoured 19 percent of the population.
Chinese fishers’ overharvesting of Triton’s trumpet sea snails in the seas near the islands has sparked runaway growth in the crown-of-thorns starfish population, Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Center researcher Jeng Ming-shiou (鄭明修) told a news conference.
The reef-eating starfish’s unchecked population growth has had a devastating effect on the corals on the atoll’s periphery, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwanese Coral Reef Society
Last year, Jeng, who is honorary chairman of the Taiwanese Coral Reef Society, said he organized a volunteer group named the Dongsha Commandos who culled 13,976 starfish by using non-polluting acetic acid.
The volunteers in March and last month eliminated another 33,748 starfish around the islands, an alarming number, as only 29,000 starfish were previously believed to inhabit the area.
Furthermore, the starfish seem to be migrating to the east at a speed of 250m a week, putting the coral in the Pratas Islands’ inner lagoon under threat, he said.
Volunteers also reported spotting starfish off Keelung, Green Island (綠島) and Kenting, he said.
Studies on the reefs off Guam suggest that the corals near the Pratas Islands would be depleted in two years, to be followed by the reefs in the atoll’s lagoon, Jeng said.
The government must launch a robust, multi-agency response and allow volunteers to play a larger role in conservation efforts if it wishes to prevent an environmental disaster, he said.
A factor hindering the work of volunteers is the military, which has restricted access to the waters around the atoll, he said.
The cost of inaction would be high, as the islands’ reefs could potentially generate profits estimated at NT$33.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) in fishing and tourism, Jeng said.
Officials should target the starfish during their spawning season this month and next, when culling would be most effective, he added.
The National Park Service said it had allocated NT$20 million to handle the starfish crisis over the past two years.
The service is leading a growing number of volunteer teams and ships to study and control the starfish population with the assistance of Academia Sinica, the Coast Guard Administration and private-sector partners, it said.
Research programs are being conducted toward establishing mechanisms to predict starfish population booms, as recent scientific literature suggests some kind of cyclical pattern is in play, it said.
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