Ormoc agri office checking crown-of-thorn starfish in city’s waters

Crown-of-thorn starfish have invaded the waters off several villages in Southern Leyte. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

ORMOC CITY — The Animal Production and Fisheries Division of the City Agriculture Office (CAO) is now scouring the sea off the coastal barangays of the city to determine the gravity of the poisonous crown-of-thorn starfish (COTS) in the area.

Irish Belmonte, section head of the Fishery and Development Section, said they extracted

29 large size COTS at small corals in Barangay Ipil, during a dive with fellow divers on Friday.

She said they have to see the magnitude of the presence of the COTS in the city because there was already an outbreak here in 2011.