By Chen Sue Yee | Programme Manager
Crown-of-thorns (COTs) have never been a problem on Tioman Island. Every year, Reef Check Malaysia together with Tioman Marine Conservation Group and dive operators carry out COTs removal to keep COTs population under control. From 2016 to 2019, this team had removed 392 COTs from the reefs.
However, this year alone, they removed a whopping 1033 individuals! The cause of the outbreaks is not known yet but the team is doing their best to prevent further outbreaks and damages on the reefs.
COTs outbreaks can cause mass mortality of corals as adult COTS can kill entire corals, including large colonies. On top of that, predation scars and injuries caused by COTS can cause disease outbreaks. The main predators of COTs include the Giant triton snail, Stars and stripes puffer fish, Titan triggerfish and the Humphead maori wrasse. However, the abundance of COTs’ predators is very low and human intervention is needed.
The team removes COTs via vinegar injection. This method is proven to be safe, effective (killing COTs in less than 24 hours under both experimental and field conditions), inexpensive and widely available method for killing COTs.
A big THANK YOU to those who reported to us and joined us in removing COTs!
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