CEBU CITY-Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) has declared crown of thorns starfish outbreak in the province of Cebu.
Baltazar Tribunalo Jr., head of Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office(PDRRMO) said, that the increase numbers of these venomous starfish has affected 50 marine protected areas. This is due to the El Niño Phenomenon thus, PENRO decided to declare an outbreak to provide immediate solution to the current problem.
Crown of thorns starfish (locally known as ‘dap-ag’) are known to be more abundant during summer. They crawl on corals and sip its juices until it dies. When corals die, marine habitat will be degraded that leads to the loss of many fish.
In addition, PDRRMO and PENRO have scheduled clean up drive to remove these starfish. Tribunalo also calls on divers to organize their own group to join the activity.
He also added that there will be a ‘pay cash program’ where in participants who join in removing these sea creature are paid by the province.
The areas that are affected by the outbreak are the island of Camotes, Bantayan, Alegria, Tabogon, Moalboal and many more.
