Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior established a task force to address the overpopulation of crown-of-thorns starfish threatening the coral ecosystem in the oceans around Dongsha Atoll National Park.
Monitoring revealed severe overpopulation of the starfish in the national park, with 20 to 30 starfish per 100 square meters of water, with an overall of no less than 50,000 starfish.
Manual removal of the starfish is currently the most effective method to control their population growth.
The task force comprises support from multiple government agencies, experts from various institutions, and professional divers with the aim of reducing the starfish population.
The plan involves 10 deployments to clear out the starfish, with each deployment lasting a week.
102 expert divers were recruited by the Marine National Park Headquarters in response to a call for volunteers to participate in the task force.
The task force adopted charonia tritonis, a natural enemy of the starfish, as its mascot to address the overpopulation issue.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and Okinawa, are also facing challenges from the overpopulation of crown-of-thorns starfish.
Sources: Focus Taiwan, Liberty Times Net, Yahoo News Taiwan
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
