The news about the natural reef environment can be so overly bleak, it’s nice to hear some progress coming out of Australia that bodes well for the future of the Great Barrier Reef. The Crown of Thorns starfish,acanthasterplaci，是众所周知的珊瑚礁驱逐舰，这种Echinoderm的狂热ho积能够以惊人的速度笼罩着一群死珊瑚。
澳大利亚政府多年来一直在尝试多种不同的技术来拆除和消除荆棘海星的王冠来保护其巨大的障碍礁，但以前的努力效率低下，劳动力强度或其他方面无效，无法实现这一目标。詹姆斯·库克大学（James Cook University）开发的一种新的致命注射方法可以在24小时内用一次注射杀死荆棘海星冠。
The new injection method can be used against 1,000acanthasteron a single 40 minute dive and it has succeeded in eradicating more than 250,000 Crown of Thorns starfish from the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland over the last two years. Environment Minister Greg Hunt was quoted as saying “It’s necessary for the reef and it’s the single best hope we’ve had in dealing with the crown-of-thorns since people have been working in this space.”
更好的是，这项努力已经足够成功，使荆棘王冠的项目运营商消除了计划“have noticed a significant increase in coral cover” and the removal of more than a quarter million of the pest starfish has prevented the spawning and release of literally billions of eggs. More work is needed to continue the fight against the Crown of Thorns’ onslaught against delicate coral reefs with research also being performed to develop a contraceptive treatment.
尽管对珊瑚礁施加了所有压力，但此类新闻反对失去珊瑚覆盖的主要因素之一是令人鼓舞的。再加上可持续的礁石管理和进步的环境政策，大屏障礁和其他珊瑚丰度和多样性的热点有战斗的机会，可以保持世界上一些最美丽的自然场所。[[ABC Australia]
