Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T12:46:10.243Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Crown-of-thorns Crisis in Australia: A Retrospective Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Richard A. Kenchington
Richard A. Kenchington
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Biology, James Cook University of North Queensland, P.O. James Cook University, Queensland 4811, Australia, Director, Research and Planning, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, P.O. Box 1379, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Crown-of-thorns Starfish (Acanthaster planci) was perceived to be a threat to coral reefs of the Indo–West Pacific region partly as a consequence of new technology, in the form of SCUBA diving, becoming generally available. It took some years, however, for field practices to be developed which employed the new technology effectively in sampling such a phenomenon over large areas.

In Australia an emotional environmental campaign followed the publication of a report to the Queensland Government in 1969, which claimed that the Starfish was a major threat to the Great Barrier Reef, that it was probably Man-induced, and that it could be controlled. The report was neither adopted nor rejected in the period of more than a year which elapsed between its submission and its publication. As the public campaign gained momentum, official inquiries reviewed and questioned the data-base of the initial report but no attempt was made to devise, test, or implement, a more acceptable sampling procedure until 1973. In retrospect it is suggested that an early practical initiative to assess and remedy claimed defects of the initial sampling programme, would have removed the element of speculation which led to considerable heat in the Crown-of-thorns debate in Australia.

The recommendation of the official inquiries resulted in the establishment of a trust fund to give special support to research into the problem. The research thus conducted materially increased understanding of the phenomenon, but it has been claimed that vital areas of investigation were omitted, and the value of such special support has been questioned. It is suggested here that the special problems and expense of research into the ecology of remote reefs would have precluded almost all research into the Crown-of-thorns Starfish and its effects without such ad hoc support. However, it is further suggested that more direct management of the programme would have coordinated research effort and made more effective use of the facilities and support available.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1978 , pp. 11 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnes, J. H. & Endean, R. (1964). A dangerous starfish Acanthaster planci (Linnè). Med. J. Aust., 1, p. 592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, T. & Willey, K. (1972). Crown of Thorns: Death of the Great Barrier Reef. Angus & Robertson, Sydney, Australia: 128 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Bradbury, R. H. (1976). Letter. Search, 7, p. 461.Google Scholar
Carson, Rachel (1962). Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts: 368 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Cheney, D. P. (1973). An analysis of the Acanthaster control programs in Guam and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Micronesica, 9, pp. 171–80.Google Scholar
Chesher, R. H. (1969). Acanthaster planci: Impact on Pacific Coral Reffs. Westinghouse Electric Corporation Report to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Document No. PB187631, Washington, D.C.: 151 pp.Google Scholar
Commoner, Barry (1967). Science and Survival. Gollancz, London, England: 120 pp.Google Scholar
Cornell, J. & Surowiecki, J. (Ed.) (1972). The Pulse of the Planet: A State of the Earth Report from the Smithsonian Institution Center for Short-lived Phenomena. Thomas Nelson, London, and Crown, New York, N.Y.: 129 pp.Google Scholar
Dana, T. F. (1970). Acanthaster: A rarity in the past. Science, 169, p. 894.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Endean, R. (1969). Report on Investigations Made into Aspects of the Current Acanthaster planci {Crown-of-thorns) Infestations of Certain Reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. Fisheries Branch, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane, Australia: 35 pp., mimeogr.Google Scholar
Endean, R. (1974). Acanthaster planci on the Great Barrier Reef. Proc. 2nd Int. Coral Reef Symp., pp. 563–76.Google Scholar
Endean, R. & Chesher, R. H. (1973). Temporal and spatial distribution of Acanthaster planci population explosions in the Indo–West Pacific region. Biol. Conserv., 5, pp. 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Endean, R. & Stablum, W. (1975). Population explosions of Acanthaster planci and associated destruction of hard-coral covers of reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Environmental Conservation, 2(4), pp. 247–56, 7 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankel, E. (1975). Acanthaster in the past: Evidence from the Great Barrier Reef. Crown-of-thorns Starfish Seminar Proceedings, Brisbane 6 September 1974. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia: pp. 159–66.Google Scholar
Frankel, E. (1977). Previous Acanthaster aggregations in the Great Barrier Reef. Proc. 3rd Int. Coral Reef Symp., pp. 201–8.Google Scholar
Glynn, P. W. (1973). Acanthaster: Effect on coral-reef growth in Panama. Science, 180, pp. 504–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glynn, P. W. (1974). The impact of Acanthaster on corals and coral reefs in the Eastern Pacific. Environmental Conservation, 1(4), pp. 295–304, 4 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goreau, T. F. (1963). On the predation of coral by the spiny starfish Acanthaster planci (L.) in the southern Red Sea. Sea Fish. Res. Stat. Haifa Bull., 35, pp. 23–6.Google Scholar
Head, S. M. & Ormond, R. G. F. (in press). A platform as a base for coral reef studies. Handbook of Coral Reef Research Methods (Ed. Stoddart, D. R. & Johannes, R. E.). Unesco, Paris.Google Scholar
Kenchington, R. A. (1976). Acanthaster planci on the Great Barrier Reef: detailed surveys of four transects between 19° and 20° S. Biol. Conserv., 9, pp. 165–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenchington, R. A. (1977). Growth and recruitment of Acanthaster planci on the Great Barrier Reef. Biol. Conserv., 11, pp. 103–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenchington, R. A. & Morton, B. (1976). Two Surveys of the Crown-of-thorns Starfish over a Section of the Great Barrier Reef. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia: v + 187 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Lucas, J. S. (1973). Reproductive and larval biology of Acanthaster planci in Great Barrier Reef waters. Micronesica, 9(2), pp. 197–203.Google Scholar
O'Gower, A. K., Bennett, Isobel & Mcmichael, D. F. (1972). Crown-of-thorns: A report to the Great Barrier Reef Committee. Search, 3, pp. 202–4.Google Scholar
Pearson, R. G. (1974). Recolonization by hermatypic corals of reefs damaged by Acanthaster. Proc. 2nd Int. Coral Reef Symp., pp. 207–16.Google Scholar
Pearson, R. G. (1975). Recolonization by hermatypic corals of reefs damaged by Acanthaster. Crown-of-thorns Starfish Seminar Proceedings, Brisbane 6 September 1974. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia, pp. 127–30.Google Scholar
Pearson, R. G. & Endean, R. (1969). A preliminary study of the coral predator Acanthaster planci (L.) (Asteroidea) on the Great Barrier Reef. Fisheries Notes, Queensland Dept Harbours and Marine, 3, pp. 27–55.Google Scholar
Pearson, R. G. & Garrett, R. N. (1976). Acanthaster planci on the Great Barrier Reef: General surveys 1972–1975. Biol. Conserv., 9, pp. 157–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, J. W. (1972). Predation by Acanthaster and its effect on coral species diversity. Amer. Nat., 196, pp. 487–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, J. W. (1974). Community structure of coral reefs on opposite sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Science, 186, pp. 543–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talbot, F. H. (1971). Comment. Search, 2, pp. 192–3.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. M. (1976). Marine Biology. The Australian University, 14, pp. 114–22.Google Scholar
Walsh, R. J., Day, M. F., Emmens, D. W., Hill, D., Marty, D. F., Rogers, W. P. & Waterhouse, D. F. (1970). Report on Acanthaster planci (Crown-of-thorns Starfish) and the Great Barrier Reef. Australian Academy of Science Report, No. 11, 20 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Walsh, R. J., Harris, C. L., Harvey, J. M., Maxwell, W. G. H., Thomson, J. M. & Tranter, D. J. (1971). Report of the Committee on the Problem of the Crown-of-thorns Starfish (Acanthaster planci). Commonwealth Government Printing Office, Canberra, Australia: 45 pp.Google Scholar
Walsh, R. J., Harvey, J. M., Maxwell, W. G. H. & Thomson, J. M. (1976). Report on Research Sponsored by the Advisory Committee on Research into the Crown-of-thorns Starfish. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia: 35 pp.Google Scholar
Wass, R. C. (1973). Acanthaster population levels and control efforts on Ponape, Eastern Caroline Island. Micronesica, 9, pp. 167–70.Google Scholar
Wilson, B. R. & Marsh, L. M. (1974). Acanthaster studies on a Western Australian coral reef. Proc. 2nd Int. Coral Reef Symp., pp. 621–30.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, M. (1974). Growth of juvenile Acanthaster planci (L.) in the laboratory. Pacific Science, 28(2), pp. 123–38.Google Scholar