In general, a sea star mop is made up of a
number of cotton bundles (ranging from 7 to
19) attached to a frame (such as an 8 to10
foot iron bar), which is pulled behind a boat
(see figure 3) (US fish 1946). As the sea star
mop passes over the sea bottom, sea stars
become entangled in the threads of the cotton
bundles. Once on deck, the starfish are either
removed by hand, to be disposed of later, or
killed by submerging the mop into a basin
containing hot water.
The mop is best used on areas of a medium
scale with high densities of sea stars.