'No-take' Reserve Impact Pest Starfish

Fishing bans set up to protect Australia's Great Barrier Reef are having an impact on one of its most devastating predators, a new study has found.

Published in the latest Current Biology journal, the research shows there are fewer outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) in areas of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, off the Australian north-east coast, where fishing is banned.

Dr Hugh Sweatman, senior research scientist from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), says the frequency of crown-of-thorns outbreaks was higher in areas where commercial fishing is allowed than in protected no-take areas.

Last month researchers announced that coral trout numbers in areas of the reef where fishing is banned have increased as a result of the controversial 2004 rezoning of 33% of the marine park as a no-take zone...