[pf] Living in a lunatic asylum

by Kaleopono

25 December 2000 21:11 UTC

Koyanisquatsi, the world is out of balance.  The crown of thorns starfish
has been devastating reefs in Hawaii for a decade or two, and this story
indicates it is running rampant in Japan and elsewhere in the Pacific and
Indian oceans, too.

Once the genie is out of the bottle, prodigous effort and expense is
required for the attempt to minimize the often terribly destructive,
unanticipated impacts which can never be completely reversed.

This pattern incautious hubris and arrogance is played out over and over
again, ad inifnitum.  Now we're doing it with genetically modified
organisms, too!

Truthfully...don't we live in a lunatic asylum?

Kaleopono

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CHEMICAL MAY KEEP STARFISH FROM EATING ENDANGERED CORAL

HONOLULU, Hawaii, December 19, 2000 (ENS) - Researchers have discovered a
chemical in sea urchins that might be used to lure starfish away from coral
reefs, an endangered ecosystem they are devouring at an alarming rate. The
finding was presented Sunday during the 2000 International Chemical Congress
of Pacific Basin Societies. The poisonous crown of thorns starfish, which
feasts on coral and whose population is believed to be expanding, is a major
source of destruction of valued habitats in the tropical zones of the Indian
and Pacific oceans, including Hawaii. The problem is acute in Japan, where
extensive, expensive efforts to control the creature have met with little
success.

Researchers at Nagoya University in Nagoya, Japan, have discovered that sea
urchins contain a chemical that appears to attract starfish. After
laboratory analysis, they isolated the active chemicals from the urchin and
found they are two unsaturated fatty acids: arachidonic acid and a-linolenic
acid. While only a small number of starfish were captured during an initial
trial of the attractant, the results are promising because they represent
proof of principle, said Daisuke Uemura, Ph.D., the study's lead researcher
and a chemistry professor at the university. "Although we can't save all of
the coral reefs in the world from destruction, our research is useful for
saving some of them," Uemura said. Starfish populations have boomed in
recent years. Scientists suspect that nutrient runoff and removal of
starfish predators have contributed to their growing populations. Most
attempts to control the starfish have been unsuccessful, or dangerous to
other sea creatures. Methods under consideration include the introduction of
diseases and predators that are specific to the starfish.