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Taskforce to remove deadly starfish from Mambulao reefs

 

A taskFORCE will deal with the alarming spread of starfish species that destroy the coral reefs in the coastal areas of Mambulao.

The group comprises the local government of Mambulao, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (bfar), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (denr), the Coast Guard (CG), and a local volunteers’ group.

The fight against COTS will be a joint effort this time by the five groups in the task force, Mayor Ariel M. Non told MWBuzz in a text message. 

He clarified the taskforce effort is not a “takeover” but a “collaboration” between the task force members.

In this joint effort, the agencies will send their divers to Mambulao to lead the volunteers in gathering COTS from the reefs in Mambulao coastal reefs.

Before the taskforce’s creation early this month, the fight against COTS or the Crown of Thorn Starfish was already being waged by a small group of volunteer-divers from Mambulao.

Artem Andaya, an advocate of coral reef protection in Mambulao, has started the effort with financial support from several Mambolenos who either live elsewhere in the country or overseas.

But the group was told to stop its daily operations as the LGU will create a taskforce to make COTS operations more efficient.

Andaya’s group had already collected about 9,000 COTS just before the task force was created.

On the first two days of the task force’s operations, BFAR sent for six scuba divers.

However, the men from the three agencies did not come on the third day of the work, the last under the taskforce.

Andaya said they have to wait for the LGU’s advice when the operations would resume.

Meanwhile, the volunteers will continue with their coral replanting jobs.

Andaya has appealed for more donations for new designs of coral reef modules needed to deploy in flattened coral reef areas. - APHernandez

 


 

 

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