My collection of Crown of Thorn Starfish.

[Tigerman]

Then why not do it again? Perfect way to piss off the neighbours

 

[Rogersea]

I like my neighbors, and want them to continue to like me

 

[Wookie]

I like the thought of the rice sack, and assume that it is made of that plastic stuff that grain sacks are made of here. What about a burlap bag of some sort, or a hemp bag. Weight it with a rock and fill it with COTS. Throw sack and everything overboard in deep water and say bye bye. If you are really worried about the sack degrading, buoy it off with a crab pot and haul it back up every few weeks. Then you can add more COTS to the mess.

 

[Mucksavage]

Evolution will investigate whether this great idea from Fiji might work in Malapascua. We are still trying to get more information but it seems the COTs are captured by local fisherman, they are then dried out (which will be the smelly part) and then rendered into fertliser which can be sold. A worthy end perhaps for the unfortunate COTs and a great incentive for local communities to get involved.

Yesterday 6 staff divers from Evolution netted 250 to 300 COTs on one dive. Prickly gold . . . .

 

[Rogersea]

When I was a kid we used to bury fish heads and guts in the garden(for fertilizer), and I have thought about doing the same thing with the COTS but alas no real garden... I also will follow the progress on the fertilizer effort

On a positive note when I woke up this morning I went for a snorkel to collect somemore and when I retrieved the bag(containing previuosly collected COTS) which has been under the boat for less than two days I found all the cots already dead. I collected 15 more and carried the bag up to the house and put it in a garbage bag. I will dump them in the deep when I get back to Moalboal as I'm in the City to purchase some more TANKS.

 

[paolov]

ever try discussing this with the Barangay council ? to make it into a community effort. with the benefits for the community of having a better state coral reef that would benefit long term

 

[Mucksavage]

I'm waiting for the organisers in Fiji to send me a document outlining how they pitched it to local communities and what is needed to operate it effectively. They said it wold be ready in a few weeks so will hopefully get it soon.

Pitched it here locally but the unanimous reaction was that it would stink and be a lot of hard work! We may consider the Barangay but they're even more adverse to hard work here!

Evolution and The Thresher Research Project must have tallied about 3000 COTS between us over 8 dives.

 

[Rogersea]

ever try discussing this with the Barangay council ? to make it into a community effort. with the benefits for the community of having a better state coral reef that would benefit long term

I have not directly discussed but it will be put on my list of things to do ... Number one on my list is meeting with the PTA/TIEZA certified surveyor for a piece of land that I am considering leasing for my proposed Dive Shop...

 

[Rogersea]

So I forgot to mention that I carried the last batch(around a hundred) to the shop, dropped them in a large can of fresh water and then my boat captain checked them the next morning and he said they were real dead he then dropped them in 80Meters(poured them out of the bag).