Crown-of-thorns starfish response

Crown-of-thorns starfish response

The Australian Government funds a crown-of-thorns starfish management program, which involves manually injecting starfish to protect coral cover on priority reefs, particularly prime tourism sites.

A highly collaborative effort, the Crown-of-thorns Starfish Control Program is run in partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and Reef and Rainforest Research Centre along with supporting government agencies, industry partners and contractors.

Reef managers, researchers, Program contractors, and the tourism industry and operators have worked in partnership over the past decade to deliver crown-of-thorns control operations at increasing spatial scales.

The following information is drawn from the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2024.

The Crown-of-thorns Starfish Control Program (Control Program) aims to protect coral across a network of high-value reefs by suppressing starfish numbers to sustainable levels. It has become a core management action to enhance the Great Barrier Reef’s resilience under a changing climate.

There is strong evidence that the Control Program effectively reduces the severity of outbreaks and protects coral across entire reefs and regions timely culling can effectively suppress outbreaks to the point where coral growth greatly exceeds losses from predation.

Importantly, these protected coral communities continue to replenish local and downstream reefs with coral larvae, supporting the recovery and adaptation of the Region’s reefs after major disturbance events. The Control Program:

  • delivers crown-of-thorns starfish suppression and coral protection outcomes across hundreds of reefs
  • augments the benefits of zoning plans and other management actions to enhance the resilience of the Reef and the industries that rely on it.

The risk level associated with crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks has reduced from very high in 2019 to high in 2024. This reduction is driven by management actions, including proactive surveillance and targeted culling by the Control Program, coupled with an improved understanding of the program’s effectiveness. Benefits have also accrued from:

  • past establishment of no-take zones, which protect starfish predators and enhance recovery from outbreaks
  • additional protection measures for predators implemented through fisheries reforms.

More information:

Report published: 2 September 2025

Website page updated: 2 September 2025