Removing Crown-of-Thorn sea stars at Redang, Malaysia

Thorny side of starfish
Dawn Jeremiah, The Star 24 Oct 10;

MOST of us love to spend our holidays on scenic islands, but how many of us actually care about keeping them clean? No, I am not talking about beaches, but the sea.

Redang Island was not on top of my list of must-visit places. But when Hello! magazine and Berjaya Hotels and Resorts invited me for the Redang Island Clean Up Day 2010, I said yes.

I didn’t need much convincing because I wanted to make full use of my advanced open water diving licence that I recently obtained.

Berjaya Redang Beach Resort played host to the Redang Clean-Up Day where volunteers got together for the weekend to clear rubbish from the beach as well as in the water. More than 100 volunteers comprised professional divers, celebrities, dive enthusiasts, non-divers and journalists took part.

Upon arrival, we went recreational diving at the Tanjung Tokong reef and night diving at the Bahagia Wreck. Like all night dives, it was a spine-tingling and exhilarating experience.

I joined Tony Eusoff, Jehan Miskin, Elaine Daly and Azura Zainal to catch the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), the second largest in the world and a predator of corals.

This species can destroy coral reefs as they prey upon coral polyps and absorb all nutrients from them, leaving a white skeleton behind.

On the second day, we had a tutorial of how to catch the crown-of-thorns without getting pricked.

I never knew they were dangerous to humans, but one prick can get you down with a fever for two weeks!

The neurotoxins from its spines can cause a sharp stinging pain that lasts for hours, as well as nausea.

If you are stung, the area around the wound will turn dark blue and begin to swell, persisting for weeks.

The spine will break off and embed itself under your skin, leading to a more serious infection and increased toxicity.

The only way to kill it is to bring them up to the surface, leave them under the sun and then burying them in sand.

Poking it with our spears and cutting them underwater will only result in them multiplying, and shaking them around will result in their eggs being released into the water.

Nervously, we dove down to the Mak Simpang reef in search of some. When our dive master spotted one hidden under a rock, he gestured for me to catch it.

I had to get myself in an awkward position in order to not get stung and not destroy any of the corals that lay next to it. In the end, Tony managed to grab hold of it and placed it in the net.

For that dive, I was thoroughly disappointed that our team only caught four crown-of-thorns.

I was disgruntled from our small catch because Jehan, Elaine and Azura who were in another boat at another reef found about 100!

So I waited for the next dive and I finally caught one! But it was also a good thing because that meant the number of such starfish is declining and reef clean-up played a major role.

We successfully collected and removed hundreds of crown-of-thorns, as well as domestic waste and non-biodegradable plastics.

Non-diving participants and volunteers helped clear the beach of plastic bags, aluminium cans, food and beverage containers.

The trip ended with many good memories and amazing new friendships. It was comforting to find out the total number of crown-of-thorns starfish we caught was significantly lower than the number in 2009.

Project Aware Foundation is the dive industry’s leading non-profit organisation. Visit www.projectaware.org to see how you can lend a helping hand.

Dawn Jeremiah can’t wait for the next Reef Clean-Up Day in March. Armed with a passion for television and journalism, she is a senior marketing executive at a high definition lifestyle channel. An actress part-time, she also tweets at www.twitter.com/dawnjeremiah