Final report on the results of COTSAC management related research : December 1985 to June 1989

Management-related studies were primarily intended to investigate the role of human activities in outbreaks and to provide options for controlling them should they be found to be triggered or exacerbated by human activity. "Conclusive evidence of major populations prior to major human impact or involvement with the Great Barrier Reef would alleviate concern that they represent a totally new, man-induced alteration to the ecological dynamics of the system" (COTSAC, 1985). To this end, oral history studies were intended to research evidence of outbreaks on an historic timescale (200 years) while examination of reefal sediments for COTS skeletal elements was to find evidence of outbreaks on a geologic timescale (15,000 years)

Review of the Crown-of-thorns Starfish Research Committee (COTSREC) Program

In December 1988, following criticism in the media of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's handling of the crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) issue, the then Minister for the Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories, Senator the Honourable Graham Richardson, requested a review of the Authority's crown-of-thorns starfish research program and policies. The research program had been recommended to the Authority by the Crown-of-thorns Starfish Advisory Committee (COTSAC), a body of experts convened by the Authority in 1984 for this purpose. Funding of $3 million over four years for the program (1985-86 to 1988-89) was provided by the Federal Government. The program was reviewed annually by another advisory body established by the Authority, the Crown-of-thorns Starfish Advisory Review Committee (COTSARC). Zann and Moran (1988), Moran and Johnson (1990) and Lassig (1991) have summarised the structure and results of this program

Controlling crown-of-thorns starfish

This document details the control of the corallivorous starfish crown-of-thorns during outbreaks on the Reef

Communication and coexistence in a coral community

A large number of biotic relationships among dissimilar organisms is characteristic of tropical coral reefs. Such relationships involve at least four of the 16 species associated with the coral Pocillopora damicornis (L.) at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Behavioural interactions among the most conspicuous resident species (2 fish, 1 crab and 1 shrimp) were studied in the field under natural and experimental conditions. The inhabitants have the potential to harass, capture and eat, or exclude one another from the coral habitat but a system of signals among the residents facilitates coexistence and maintains the integrity of the community. The signals include contact and shivering movements by the fish which apparently inform the crustaceans of the fish's resident status

The possible causes and consequences of outbreaks of the Crown-of-Thorns starfish : proceedings of a workshop held in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, 10 June 1992 at the Sheraton Breakwater Casino Hotel

The following papers and abstracts were presented at a workshop on “The Possible Causes and Consequences of Outbreaks of the Crown-of-thorns Starfish”, held on 10 June 1992 in Townsville, Australia. The workshop was hosted by the Crown-of-thorns Starfish Research Committee (COTSREC) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) with a view to: present recent research findings about the crown-of-thorns starfish relevant to determining the possible causes and consequences of outbreaks; review the current status of the COTSREC research program; and discuss and recommend possible future research directions