3,000 destroyed
p. 107 · Read in the full issue
About 1,000 volunteers have heeded a call from French Polynesia’s Service de la Peche (Fisheries Department) to wage war on the crown of thorns star fish, which is attacking and kill ing Tahiti’s coral reef.
The volunteers collected and destroyed about 3,000 of the star fish in the lagoon at Punaauia.
Their onslaught against the starfish followed a strong warn ing recently from a Belgian expert, Professor Bernard Tursch, that Tahiti’s reefs would be com pletely destroyed within a few years unless urgent action were taken to rid them of the crown of thorns.