negatively to the reef through our effects on climate change, and this cannot be countered easily, but by killing the starfish it does compensate for some of our deadly effects. In this way, killing the starfish can help balance out our own effects on the reef. While this is the case, maybe instead humans should start working on reducing the amount we contribute to climate change. This is the most ethical way of helping the GBR, but it would be the hardest thing to do. With over seven billion people in the world and hundreds of different governments it would be extremely difficult to persuade the entire species to make a change in lifestyle just to help specific areas of the environment. Both killing the starfish and trying to reduce human contributions to climate change have similar goals in mind; goals of helping the coral reefs and promoting the financial industries centered around the reef.

   One last alternative to the problems with the GBR is to not interfere. There is a serious ethical debate behind killing starfish, by the time that enough people have been persuaded to make a change to slow climate change it may be too late, and our best attempts may not even be enough to prevent the reef from ultimately dying anyways. Maybe we should just take the back seat and let the reef live out its life. In the years that the coral reef has been alive it has been able to counter the starfish feedings and regrow what was eaten and then some. Maybe the many things hurting the reef right now will dissipate and the reef will return to its former glory, but that is the unknown. What we do know is that the reef health is declining. Despite the efforts taken over the past years it is still dying, coral bleaching is still prevalent and climate change is still highest in recorded history. There are many options for what humans can do to try and aid in restoring the reef, each with their own problems and limitations. Things such as the ethics of killing starfish shouldn’t be ignored, but whatever we choose to do to save the reef needs to be widely recognized. There are many options for how we can help the reef, but regardless of what we decide to do to fix the problems there isn’t much time left for the Great Barrier Reef.