A not-for-profit company working to improve the health of the Great Barrier Reef has been found to have edited a scientific report critical of its methods, the ABC reports.

The Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, which operates under a 4 million dollar government contract, was tasked with destroying the crown-of-thorns starfish.

The original report by Dr Udo Engelhardt criticised poor management at the NGO, criticisms which were removed from the version published online.