{"id":582623,"date":"2026-08-04T05:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T05:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/582623\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T05:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T05:42:12","slug":"450kg-haul-pulled-from-aussie-waters-highlights-spread-of-relentless-pest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/582623\/","title":{"rendered":"450kg haul pulled from Aussie waters highlights spread of relentless pest"},"content":{"rendered":"

A staggering 450kg haul of invasive seastars<\/a> have been pulled from waters off Australia’s southernmost capital city.<\/p>\n

More than 3,100 Northern Pacific seastars were recovered<\/a> on the weekend by a team of 19 scuba divers and six snorkellers near Hobart’s Bellerive Yacht Club.<\/p>\n

Their bright orange colouring makes them easy to spot underwater, and they can grow to a massive 50cm in width.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tasmanian authorities describe the animal as a “large, aggressive predator”<\/a> that feasts on native oysters, mussels and scallops.<\/p>\n

Do you have a problem with an invasive species? Contact newsroomau@yahoonews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Divers<\/p>\n

Divers pulled more than 450kg of invasive seastars from an estuary of the River Derwent.<\/p>\n

(Keith Thomas-Wurth)<\/p>\n

The creature uses its five arms to pry open their shells and devour their flesh, causing problems for both the environment and commercial fishers.<\/p>\n

Hobart has a native species of orange seastar, the Tasmanian live-bearing seastar,<\/a> but it grows to just 1.5 cm long and is listed as vulnerable to extinction.<\/p>\n

Why the seastar cleanup was needed<\/p>\n

With no natural predators in Australia, the invasive seastar quickly takes over marine ecosystems, and so intervention is required.<\/p>\n

The clean-up was organised in an estuary off the River Derwent by local diver Keith Thomas-Wurth through his Invasive Seastar Clean Up group<\/a>, and supported by Go Dive Tasmania.<\/p>\n

In July, Thomas-Wurth estimated his group had cleared hundreds of thousands since 2021.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The 450kg of seastars were collected on the back of a ute.<\/p>\n

(Mia Southon)<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/p>\n

Pictures taken on Sunday show a massive pile of seastars collected on the back of a ute for disposal.<\/p>\n

Although the average weight of a seastar is just 100 grams, the largest they recovered was 145 grams.<\/p>\n

The species is thought to have hitched a ride to Australia as larvae in the ballast water of ships visiting from Asia.<\/p>\n

They were first detected in Tasmania in 1986 and had spread across Bass Strait to Victoria by 1995.<\/p>\n

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