Tracking an Invasive Species: Sea Star Collection in Port Phillip Bay

I spent the morning with my daughter ( a soon to be marine biologist) diving and collecting some of these little buggers.

The Northern Pacific Sea Star is one of the world's most notorious marine invasive species, and it's particularly significant in Australia.

It's established as a serious invasive pest in Port Phillip Bay and Tasmania — introduced via ballast water from Japan in the late 1980s it has devastated native shellfish beds (scallops, mussels, cockles) and outcompetes native sea stars.

Each female can release up to 20 million eggs. According to citizen science monitoring the population of these has exploded in Port Phillip Bay have reached 165 million causing major ecological damage.

They are listed as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species by the IUCN.

I wish there was a commercial use for these post collection instead of just landfill to incentivise industry to get involved in eradicating them.