A single medium sized starfish may kill as many as five one-year-old oysters 

 a day (Anon., 1945). It is possible to calculate the potential loss if a con- 

 servative estimate is taken that 100 fair sized oysters are killed a season, and 

 the average weight of a starfish in the Sound is 0.28 pound as estimated by Burken- 

 road. A bushel of 60 pounds will then contain, roughly, 2,000 starfish. Each 

 bushel destroyed, therefore, represents perhaps 200,000 young oysters that may grow 

 to market size. These would be worth about $1,000 as one- or two-year-old seed- 

 oysters. 



The daily "take" of a vessel engaged in starfishing will vary widely with 

 the type of gear used and the density of starfish on the area worked. Sweet (1946) 



states that control efforts are carried out even 

 when the amount taken is as low as 10 pounds of 

 starfish per hour per vessel or little more than a 

 bushel per day. On the other hand, in seasons of 

 abundance, the daily average yield may be 25 bush- 

 els per vessel per day with maximum yields of 50 

 to 100 bushels. The usual catch is about 6 to 10 

 bushels per day on cultivated beds. 



Operating costs of a starfishing vessel have 

 mounted rapidly since 1935. A minimum estimate 

 would be $50 daily when the larger oyster vessels 

 are shifted to these operations . The maximum may 

 be three times this estimate. Depending upon the 

 abundance of starfish, from 5 to 20 or more craft 

 may be used for control purposes. These costly control operations for a non- 

 productive purpose are justified by the potential damage each bushel of starfish 

 is capable of causing if the more than 2,000 starfish it contains are left to 

 continue their depredations throughout the season. 



METHODS OF CONTROL 



Mopping, dredging, and liming are the methods of starfish control in most 

 general use. Control by other chemical agents; such as, copper and zinc sulfate 

 or chromium salts, has been studied, but none of these methods has proven practical 

 (Galtsoff and Loosanoff, 1939). 



Mopping is mostly used both because the mop causes little damage to the delicate 

 seed-oysters and because it effectively and thoroughly cleans areas where few 

 starfish are located. Dredging can be used to clean uncultivated areas free of 

 oysters where the starfish population is very heavy. The regular oyster-dredging 

 operations incidentally capture numerous starfish. These are killed with lime be- 

 fore the oysters are replanted. Liming can be used on either seed or "growing" 

 oyster beds, the chief disadvantage of this method being the difficulty of distri- 

 buting the lime in proper amounts over the desired areas. 



The starfish mop, or tangle, is usually a home-made rig which does not follow 

 any standard design. It is essentially a long bar to which are secured, at regular 

 intervals, 6 to 12 short lengths of chain. Along each chain are tied the "mops," 

 or bunches of string or twine. This outfit is slowly dragged over the bottom at 

 the end of the dredge cable. The starfish become entangled in the mops, are unable 

 to escape, and the mop is hauled up at intervals to remove the starfish. 



Starfish may be hand-picked from the mops but the operation is slow and ex- 

 pensive because extra deck-hands are required. Hand-picking may be used on vessels 



