Thousands of crown-of-thorns starfish (COT) were removed from the seas off Batangas province by authorities who were responding to the outbreak of the poisonous starfish that could endanger local natural resources. The Batangas Public Information Office (PIO), citing the report by Luis Awitan, chief of the Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office, said authorities had collected 4,500 pieces of COT in Batangas City, 2,000 in Tingloy town, 968 in Calatagan, 202 in Nasugbu and 25 each in the municipalities of Taal and San Luis in their respective marine protected areas.

Mallari, D. T., Jr. (2022, June 6). Batangas waters cleared of harmful starfish species. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A7