{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Coral reefs around Japan are being devoured by starfish' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bd10d8eafeecae131514' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bd10d8eafeecae131514' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nCoral reefs around Japan are being devoured by starfish\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003e1. Okudaira Kento (a diving instructor) takes a group of divers to the coral reefs at Yabiji.  2. Boat approaches one section of the reef.3. Okudaira San's assistant prepares to anchor the boat.   4. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kajiwara Kenji,...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003e1. Okudaira Kento (a diving instructor) takes a group of divers to the coral reefs at Yabiji.  \u003cbr/\u003e2. Boat approaches one section of the reef.\u003cbr/\u003e3. Okudaira San's assistant prepares to anchor the boat.   \u003cbr/\u003e4. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kajiwara Kenji,  Marine Biologist, Muiyakojima local government and Department of Policy and Planning: \u003cbr/\u003e\"No matter what kind of development or problems occur on the islands (because of it's distance from the shoreline and the movement of the ocean currents) Yabiji is an area that is relatively protected from man made influence.  It was found that the area contained over 300 separate species of coral.\"  \u003cbr/\u003e5. Divers and snorklers leave a boat.\u003cbr/\u003e6. Divers immediately beneath their boat.\u003cbr/\u003e7. Section of reef in Yabiji.\u003cbr/\u003e8. Orange anemonefish \u0026amp; Oneband anemonefish.  \u003cbr/\u003e9. Fish and coral. Including White-breasted sergent-major, Blue-green Puller \u003cbr/\u003e10. Fish/ Coral. Including Greenmoon Wrasse \u0026amp; Blackstripe parrot fish.\u003cbr/\u003e11. Diver prepares equipment.\u003cbr/\u003e12. Okudaira Kento preparing equipment\u003cbr/\u003e13. Okudaira Kento \u0026amp; assistant\u003cbr/\u003e14. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Okudaira Kento, Diving Instructor:  \u003cbr/\u003e\"Over the past two or three years there has been an explosive increase in Crown of Thorns Starfish and the reefs of Yabiji have been the victim.  The Starfish are eating them away.\" \u003cbr/\u003e15. Crown of Thorns Star Fish.   \u003cbr/\u003e16. Close-up Crown of Thorns Star Fish.    \u003cbr/\u003e17. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kajiwara Kenji, Marine Biologist, Muiyakojima local government and Department of Policy and Planning: \u003cbr/\u003e\"Under normal circumstances the population of the Crown of Thorns Starfish is extremely small, that if we choose to look, the possibility of finding one would be remote.  (Normally) the creatures eat coral but not to the point that they destroy it or destroy the ecosystem that they support.\"  \u003cbr/\u003e18. Crown of Thorns Star Fish.    .\u003cbr/\u003e19. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kajiwara Kenji,  Marine Biologist, Muiyakojima local government and Department of Policy and Planning: \u003cbr/\u003e\"They have increased to the point that in some places an area of fifty square meters can contain over 100 Crown of Thorns Star Fish.\"\u003cbr/\u003e20. Shallow part of the reef.  (Orange filter on lens)    \u003cbr/\u003e21. Blackstripped parrotfish/ coral\u003cbr/\u003e22. Shallow area of reef.\u003cbr/\u003e23. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Okudaira Kent, Diving Instructor:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Between 0-5 meters there are still many areas of beautiful coral reefs. Beneath that between 10-15 meters in the past the coral was equally abundant but now most of it has been eaten and all that is left is black.\"\u003cbr/\u003e24. Various dead coral destroyed by The Crown of Thorns Star Fish.  Depth, just over twelve meters. \u003cbr/\u003e25. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kajiwara Kenji, Marine Biologist, Muiyakojima local government and Department of Policy and Planning: \u003cbr/\u003e\"Researchers have come up with a number of different theories that attempt to explain the phenomenon.  One theory sees increase and decrease of COT populations as part of a natural cycle.\"  \u003cbr/\u003e26. Healthy area of reef.\u003cbr/\u003e27. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kajiwara Kenji, Marine Biologist, Muiyakojima local government and Department of Policy and Planning: \u003cbr/\u003e\"(A competing theory suggests that the population increase is man made.)  According to this theory, sewage and fertilizers coming from agriculture flow into the sea. These produce an increase of nitrogen and phosphates that usually exist within sea water, but at extremely low levels.  High concentrations of nitrogen and phosphates leads to a corresponding increase in vegetable plankton.\"\u003cbr/\u003e28. Crown of Thorns Starfish.\u003cbr/\u003e29. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kajiwara Kenji, Marine Biologist, Muiyakojima local government and Department of Policy and Planning: \u003cbr/\u003e\"Therefore the thousands of newly spawned Crown of Thorns Star fish a huge proportion of which in normal circumstances would die before reaching maturity are surviving because of the increase in foodstuffs (i.e. vegetable plankton) that they need to sustain them in the early stages of their development.\"\u003cbr/\u003e30. Dead Coral destroyed by The Crown of Thorns Star Fish.  Depth, just over twelve meters.\u003cbr/\u003e31. Fishing boat off the coast of Kurima Island also in the Miyako Island group.\u003cbr/\u003e32. Hunched Snapper caught on the reef.\u003cbr/\u003e33. White sands of Nagahama beach on Kurima Island.  \u003cbr/\u003e34. Nagahama beach\u003cbr/\u003e35. Kurima Island shot from adjacent Irabu Island.\u003cbr/\u003e36. Shallow healthy section of reef in Yabiji.  \u003cbr/\u003eWith an area of approximately 158 square kilometers (61 square miles) Miyakojima is the fourth-largest island in Okinawa Prefecture and lies between the Okinawan mainland and Taiwan in the East China Sea.\u003cbr/\u003eThe coral reefs that surround Miyakojima and other islands within the group are renowned for supporting diverse eco-systems of extraordinary natural beauty.\u003cbr/\u003eBut recently the reefs are facing a new threat - this time from starfish.\u003cbr/\u003eYabiji lies to the north of Ikema Island in the Miyako island group and is an area composed of more than 100 coral reefs.\u003cbr/\u003eIt is twelve kilometers  (7 miles) north to south and eight kilometers (5 miles)  east to west and contains Japan's largest cluster of coral reefs supporting over 300 species of coral.\u003cbr/\u003eThe area attracts divers from all over the world. Okudaira Kento originally from Yokohama, moved to Miyakojima nine years ago and established a diving school. \u003cbr/\u003eHis work allows him to observe the reef on an almost daily basis and he explains how he has become witness to what may be an ecological catastrophe:   \u003cbr/\u003eHe says over the past two or three years there has been an explosive increase in Crown of Thorns Starfish and the reefs of Yabiji have fallen victim to them.  \"The Starfish are eating them away\" he said. \u003cbr/\u003eResearchers estimate that within the past two years Crown of Thorn Starfish have destroyed more than 70% of the reefs around the islands.\u003cbr/\u003eKajiwara Kenji, a marine biologist who monitors the reefs on behalf of the Island's local government, explains that the creatures that are normally so scarce that they are almost impossible to find. He adds that they have proliferated to the point where in some places an area of fifty square meters (538 square feet) can contain more than 100 Crown of Thorns Stafish.\u003cbr/\u003eOkudaira Kento explains that damage has been most wide spread to coral growing at a depth of ten to fifteen meters beneath the ocean surface. \u003cbr/\u003eThe contrast between undamaged reef and areas devastated by the Starfish is stark.   \u003cbr/\u003eAccording to Kajiwara Kenji, researchers have come up with a number of different theories that attempt to explain the phenomenon.  One theory sees increase and decrease of COT populations as part of a natural cycle.\u003cbr/\u003eAccording to this theory the reefs will rejuvenate over a period of time and therefore damage will not be permanent.\u003cbr/\u003eA less optimistic view sees the proliferation of the COT Starfish as a man-made catastrophe.   \u003cbr/\u003eIn this view, Kajiwara Kenji explains, that sewage and fertilizers coming from agricultural run off, flow into the sea. \u003cbr/\u003eThey then produce an increase of nitrogen and phosphates that usually exist within sea water but at extremely low levels.  \u003cbr/\u003eHigh concentrations of nitrogen and phosphates leads to a corresponding increase in vegetable plankton.  This in turn sustains huge numbers of newly spawned COT Starfish that in normal circumstances would not survive.\u003cbr/\u003eCountering this theory however is research in other parts of the world that has recorded similar outbreaks of the Crown of Thorns Starfish in areas where agricultural run off or domestic waste can not have been a factor influencing their proliferation.  (Stark's research on Great Barrier Reef.)\u003cbr/\u003eRegardless of cause however, islanders and other observers are aware of how devastating consequences of the destruction of the reef will be.\u003cbr/\u003eMost obviously the death of the reefs will devastate the local fishing industry as fish stocks deplete as the habitat that sustains them vanishes.  \u003cbr/\u003eDeath of the reefs will also have a detrimental influence on the tourist industry.\u003cbr/\u003eThe white sand that characterises the beaches of the Miyako Island group are made from tiny particles of dead coral.  If the reefs go the white beaches would too.  As the clear waters cloud and white sands disappear the natural beauty that draws tourists to the islands will decline.\u003cbr/\u003eThis will therefore deprive islanders of a major source of revenue essential for the local economy as a whole.\u003cbr/\u003eAt one time Okinawa prefecture was offering financial support to a number of schemes aimed at culling the COT Starfish population.\u003cbr/\u003eThese included a scheme whereby divers were offered a certain amount of money for every Crown of Thorns Star Fish that they killed.\u003cbr/\u003eThis and other schemes failed and state funding stopped. \u003cbr/\u003eNow local government with the help of volunteers and a limited amount of local funding are concentrating their efforts on preserving small select areas of the reef.\u003cbr/\u003eAt the moment this appears to be the only pragmatic response to a phenomenon that threatens to do irreparable damage to the island as a whole and the eco-systems that support 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