Crown of Thorns Night Dive

[Rogersea]

Just returned from a Night Dive with Several Folks from TURTLE BAY DIVE RESORT, our purpose was to collect COT starfish. There seems to be plenty of them all up and down the coast and several of the dive centers and resorts are actively collecting them. Any way, there were 5 divers including myself tonight and we covered a small area of approximately 150 Meters starting in front of Sampaguita and heading north. All total we collected exactly 197 in just over an hour. Some people are reporting collecting alot more than that. Since I was focused on the COTs I am sure I missed several nice things during the dive, but did manage to see a huge turtle(they look so much cooler at night) some cuttle fish, lots of sleeping parrot fish, some nice cowries lots of shrimp including a small school of them which is the first time I have seen that here. The water was very calm and the Vis was great until the end of the dive(1hour and 10 minutes) when my mask started fogging. We were using tongs(cheap ones I got in the local market) and rice sacks to collect them. Of course my tongs broke about half way through the dive so it was a little challenging getting those guys into the bag. But it was a great way to spend the early part of the evening(maybe I will do it again tomorrow )

Cheers,
Roger

PS: I got the exact # this morning and will burn the carcasses this afternoon.

 

[Rogersea]

Ok so I am going to reply to my own post with a question for everyone(if anyone reads it ).

So I took these guys(COTs) home and stated drying them in the middle of an abandoned resort which is adjacent to my back yard. It took two days to dry them well enough so that they would really burn. Does anyone have any better uses for these things, anyone heard of making fertilizer out of them or some other useful item? Or does anyone have a better disposal method? SOme people dump them in the middle of the straits to a depth of 500M.

 

[Babydamulag]

We just bury the ****ERS in the yard.

 

[CODMAN]

We just bury the ****ERS in the yard.

If anyone is going to do this, I would suggest doing it while they are "wet", rather than dried. It will probably speed up decomposition in the soil...

At least that's what a World Renown compost maker told me once...

 

[Rogersea]

Thanks, I just dont have anyplace with any soil (or enough sand)...

 

[wahlaoeh]

Hey Roger,
As a diver and reef lover, I appreciate your effort in removing the COT starfishs and I hope that more divers living in the Philippines will continue to do so to help clean up the reefs before it's too late.

I also just got back from a wonderful trip diving in Dauin and Siquijor- a lesser known island southeast from Cebu. Don't be mistaken, the reefs in Siquijor are still in very good shape and have amazing coral growths; some of the best that I have seen in the Philippines but I'm very disturbed by the numerous COTs I have came across during my dives, esp at the shallower reefs at the walls. The one site most affected is Tambisan wall (our last moring dive)- I have seen hundreds (or probably thousands) of them populating the reef top. Too bad, we did not have a crate at that time to clean them up.

I did my last dive just to collect the COTs with my dive guide at the House reef and we collected 66 in an hour. He said that he is going to dry them and then buried them in sand in a deep hole. I have talked to their manager, Poloy and he said that they will do reef clean-up during the low season. Hopefully, they will do so soon. I'll write to him to remind him ;-)

I've never seen so many COTs anywhere else that I've dived. My last trip in Philippines was in Cabilao two years ago but I did not observe this condition. Why are the pristine reefs affected now? Maybe someone has the answer but I really hope that more divers will come forward to help clean them up. Let's protect our reefs.

Thank you.

Happy bubbles,
Jovin-

 

[wahlaoeh]

Crown-of-thorn sea star - Encyclopedia of Earth

Some people have taken the matter into their own hands and taken groups of divers out to the reefs in order to kill the crown-of-thorns themselves. Originally this was done by stabbing and cutting up the sea stars, but it was discovered that the pieces were able to regenerate and create an even larger problem. The next method used was to remove the sea stars from the reefs and bury them on shore. This could be an efficient method in local areas, but crown-of-thorns are dangerous to handle and much care must be given to the method of removal. Divers have also attempted to kill the crown-of-thorns by injecting them with poison. This method is very efficient and has been attempted on a very large scale. One problem with the injection method, however, is that many of the poisons, such as copper sulfate, leave pollutants (heavy metals) in the water. Other poisons have also been tried, but they are not as effective as copper sulfate, tend to damage the injection guns and are harmful to the people handling them. Sodium bisulphate is currently the best choice to poison crown-of-thorns with, since it eventually breaks down in seawater. The full consequences of releasing this chemical into the oceans has yet to be fully analyzed. So far, no one has come up with a good large-scale solution to deal with these destructive invertebrates.

 

[Rogersea]

Jovan, What a shame about Siquijor. I spent a week there in 2008 and I thought the Reef was in good shape. Hopefully the major operators on the island will organize and address the issue b4 its too late...

Cheers

 

[wahlaoeh]

Just got an update from the dive manager, Poloy from the Sea Explorers team in Siquijor that they have done a major clean-up on the last two days- 4 crates from the house reef and 7 crates from Tambisan Wall. Great job guys, we need responsible dive ops like you ;-) My most heartfelt thanks ..

Happy bubbles,
Jovin-