Catching starfish,

as a village contest

From W. H. Percival,

in Rarotonga The Cook Islands plan to make catching the crown of thorns starfish (a variety which has been accused of destroying valuable reef coral) a matter of

sport between villages, rather

than pay a bounty on each star

fish caught.

This was brought out during a recent two-day conference in Raro tonga of the Fisheries Review Com mittee, chaired by Mr. V. T. Hinds, risking fisheries officer of the South Pacific Commission, But Mr. Hinds stressed, after visit ng Aitutaki lagoon with 20 divers, hat the starfish was definitely not )resent in plague proportions in this irea. In fact he and his divers icarched most of the lagoon and bund only 30 starfish.

The chief worry was that if the tarfifish were present in plague pro )ortions in Manikiki and Penrhyn, hey might have an effect on the >opulation of mother-of-pearl shell.

Direct attack

One reason given for the lack of tarfish at Aitutaki was that the 250 rochus shells imported from Fiji in 958 had established themselves well m the reef. It was now possible o transplant the shells (known to rey on the starfish) to the surround ig reefs. The shells might well be tart of an expanding industry in rochus —as long as there was snsible management.

It was agreed that the only ffective way of combating the star sh problem in the Cooks was by direct attack” by the community.

Volunteer organisations, like the Boy couts and Boy’s Brigade, would be rought in to assist their elders in ie villages. Each Cook Islands '°uld be assigned a certain area of Jef to control, under the super ision of specialised officers.

The youngsters would kill crown f thorns, which are venomous, in amparative safety in shallow lagoon r aters, while the best divers killed lem outside the reefs, in much eeper waters. If this system were

adopted, it was said, at least the upper lips of the reefs could be kept clear of the starfish plague.

This approach to the problem, based on experience in other South Pacific Islands, certainly seems suit able to Cook Islands conditions, where money to pay bounties is scarce, but where the competitive spirit between islands, villages and various groups is keen. Instead of paying individual bounties for the number of crown of thorns killed, the winning villages could be reward ed by a feast and village dance, or something similar.

Funds would be required for the purchase of basic equipment, such as snorkels, air floats, and syringes with which to inject the crown of thorns with fatal doses of chemical mixtures. The safest, and cheapest mixture to use, said Mr. Hinds during an interview, seems to be one of formaldehyle and acetic acid. It costs only half a cent’s worth of this dose to destroy one crown of thorns. One air float would enable two divers using it to stay down for about an hour.

Mr. Hinds pointed out that last December the population of a West Samoan village destroyed 16,000 crown of thorns in only three days.

When properly organised, there seemed to be no reason why Cook Islanders could not do the same.

Produce Freighted

By Air?

The Pacific Islands Producers As sociation has urged a study of the possibilities of using air freight for the export of perishable goods, fol lowing a four-day conference in Suva in June.

Delegates representing the five member territories of the association —Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Niue, and Western Samoa—decided that a reduction in air freight rates should be sought between PI PA countries and New Zealand, the USA, and other countries. They asked the secretary, Mr. H. P. Elder, to ap proach the International Air Trans port Association about a possible rate reduction.

The conference decided that two banana producers and a field officer from each territory should make a visit to New Zealand this year to check the landed condition of green bananas from the islands and to study the New Zealand distribution pro cesses.