In recent years, crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks have increased in scale and frequency, causing marine resource managers and scientists to take action. The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) has come across several COTS infested reefs throughout the Global Reef Expedition in the Indo-Pacific. After using a variety of different methods for collecting and disposing of COTS on our missions, we developed a list of COTS Best Management Practices for the resource management and scientific community at-large.
2025-2026 B.A.M. Student Voices
Throughout the Bahamas Awareness of Mangroves (B.A.M.) and Jamaica Awareness of Mangroves in Nature (J.A.M.I.N.) programs, we evaluate each phase of the mangrove education and restoration process to better understand how students are learning, growing, and connecting with their coastal environments.
Before the programs begin, students share what they already know about mangroves and how they feel about them. As the program progresses, we continue to gather feedback to see how their knowledge evolves from identifying mangrove species and understanding food webs to recognizing the role mangroves play in coastal protection and climate change mitigation.
But the surveys go beyond science content.
We also ask students…
