Five new contractors have been appointed to step up the assault on crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef.
Assistant Minister for the Environment, Melissa Price said the move followed a competitive tender process run by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
“It comes after a $14.4 million funding boost from Reef Trust and Reef 2050 in 2017 and a $10.4 million allocation from the Australian Government earlier this year,” Ms Price said.
She said maintaining coral cover and lowering crown-of-thorns starfish numbers was a key priority.
“The Great Barrier Reef is under pressure from a range of threats and I welcome the efforts of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and those working with them on this crown-of-thorns starfish control program,” Ms Price said.
“It’s fantastic to see more crew and vessels being lined up to get out on the water — this expansion essentially triples our capacity to cull the coral-eating starfish.”
She said it also enabled a larger area of the reef to be covered, and more data to be collected to inform future control activities.
“Ramping up crown-of-thorns control in the marine park is one of 10 key actions identified in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s recently released Great Barrier Reef Blueprint for Resilience,” Ms Price said.
“The Australian and Queensland Governments are investing more than $2 billion over the coming decade to improve the health of the reef through the Reef 2050 plan, which has been endorsed by the World Heritage Committee.”
