Call to cull coral predator

[Still Waters]

ENVIRONMENT Minister Tony Burke will consider proposals to expand the culling of crown-of-thorns starfish in the wake of a startling report that found the coral predators had helped strip away half the Great Barrier Reef in recent decades.

Mr Burke told The Age yesterday he was ''enthusiastic'' about looking at new ways to combat outbreaks of the starfish, whose numbers have swelled after the Queensland floods of 2010.

A landmark study published yesterday by scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science found that half of the reef's coral had disappeared in the past 27 years and less than a quarter could remain by 2022.

http://www.smh.com.a...1002-26xg8.html

[Keel M.]

I guess the need for the reef outweighs the value of the predatory species.

It's a shame that the starfish don't have other uses. We have an abundance of nutria here in southeast Louisiana. I don't think they are considered predatory, but they are a nuisance. Thankfully, though, their meat is edible and their pelts are valuable.

Edited October 2, 2012 by Lady Kasey

[Michelle]

Everything I've read says it is global warming that is killing the reef. I wish they would make up their minds.

[Ashotep]

Global warming may be a contributing factor in the starfish doing so well. Should cull them to save the reef.