Researchers in Washington are now successfully growing starfish in laboratories and introducing them into the wild to help boost falling populations and improve the health of marine ecosystems. With marine environments facing increasing pressures from climate change, pollution, and other human activities, initiatives like this represent enormous potential for conservation efforts. However, they also raise significant environmental and ethical questions. When I first came across the article , I couldn’t help but think of Jurassic Park, imagining scenarios of massive, lab-grown starfish rampaging around attacking people. But then I began to consider the actual implications of these types of initiatives. So, is this a glimpse into the future of conservation, or just an interesting experiment with risks that outweigh the benefits?
Star fish are what is referred to as a 'keystone species' meaning that they play an integral role in marine ecosystems. Therefore, the decline in starfish populations (particularly due to threats such as sea star wasting disease and warming ocean temperatures) has a domino effects on the rest of the ecosystem which could have severe consequences for marine biodiversity. So could lab grown starfish provide a potential solution? By cultivating starfish in a controlled environment, scientists are then able to release healthy individuals back into the wild, bolstering natural populations and potentially leading to more resilient marine ecosystems. The concept of growing marine life in labs isn't new; aquaculture in labs has been used to bolster seafood supplies for years. However, applying this concept to the conservation of wild species is relatively novel. It offers several benefits aside from simply increasing starfish populations: lab-grown organisms can be monitored for health and disease, ensuring that only robust individuals are reintroduced into ecosystems. This method could also serve as an "insurance policy" against further decline, meaning that if a certain species of star fish does go extinct, they can be re-introduced in the future, much like seed banks (e.g. the Svalbard Seed Vault) as an insurance policy against plant species extinctions.
However, there are risks of this approach which need to be considered (but I don't think being eaten by a giant starfish is one of them!). One concern is that lab-grown starfish are derived from a limited gene pool, leading to reduced genetic diversity of lab-grown populations. Therefore, releasing them into the wild could inadvertently reduce genetic variation, leading to reduced adaptability and long-term survival. Additionally, if lab-grown starfish carry pathogens or parasites, there is a risk of introducing new diseases into already stressed ecosystems. Another environmental implication is the potential disruption of ecosystem dynamics. In some cases, reintroducing species in unnatural quantities or at the wrong times can lead to unintended consequences, such as over-predation or competition with other native species. Careful planning, monitoring, and adaptive management are essential if these risks are to be avoided.
Similar technologies such as genetic modification/engineering (GM) has faced a lot of backlash in recent years with many people preferring to steer clear of GM foods and products entirely. Yet, genetic engineering isn’t a new concept—our stone age ancestors figured out that by selectively breeding certain plants and animals, they could improve their agricultural yields. Today's technology has simply accelerated this process, but does doing it in a lab suddenly make it more dangerous or fundamentally wrong? The same question applies to growing starfish in a lab—is it truly unethical, or are our instincts and fears making it seem more alarming than it actually is? Somehow, other similar techniques such as coral 'IVF' (where corals are bred in labs and then used to restore damaged reefs https://www.barrierreef.org/news/explainers/what-is-coral-ivf) don't seem so worrying to me, so I am inclined to think that so long as the risks of these techniques are appropriately regulated then these techniques have the potential to be a helpful tool in our conservation arsenal. However, it is important to bear in mind that these types of strategies should serve as complementary, not primary, conservation tools, with the preservation of habitats and species being the first priority of conservation efforts.
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Written by Katie Marfleet
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