"COTS are eating the coral faster than the coral is able to reproduce."
3. The overharvesting of the predators of COTS contributes to their increase in population. Predators of COTS include the trumpet triton, triggerfish, wrasse, puffer fish, and helmet snail, all play significant roles in controlling the population of COTS. However, fishermen often overharvest these predators and eventually help the survival of COTS.
Fortunately, the scientific community has begun to pay more attention to the outbreaks of COTS. Many environmental research institutes and organisations have researched methods and tactics for resolving the increasing rate of COTS’ expansion globally.
They have endeavored to successfully eliminate these invaders of the coral reefs.
A common method of eradication is manual removal. This involves trained divers pulling out the COTS in a collection bag or net. They then process and dispose of them on land, using sharpened sticks, tongs or steel rods. However, this manual removal method is regarded inefficient because it is hard to eradicate large amounts of COTS at once. This is due to the large amount of water stored in the COTS’ bodies.
An alternative method for manual removal is chemical injection; this method only involves divers, who have a permit, to inject the COTS. The most effective chemicals are sodium bisulphate and bile salt, which are harmless to the marine ecosystem and able to decompose in seawater.
It is effective as it can be attempted on a large scale because divers can inject the substance into an average 120 COTS per hour.