Killing lionfish, does it work?

[b-dog]

It would be nice if people could just leave nature alone. It seems to do much better without the "help" of man. It was unfortunate that lionfish were released into the Atlantic but they have become established now and are part of the ecosystem. If people just let nature achieve balance then things would work themselves out. There are lionfish in the Pacific and there are 10 times the amount of species of fish there as the Caribbean.

 

[redacted]

It would be nice if people could just leave nature alone. It seems to do much better without the "help" of man. It was unfortunate that lionfish were released into the Atlantic but they have become established now and are part of the ecosystem. If people just let nature achieve balance then things would work themselves out. There are lionfish in the Pacific and there are 10 times the amount of species of fish there as the Caribbean.

How does that approach work with things like zebra mussels and grass carp? How about Kudzu?

 

[Chugwhump]

I just read all the postings so far in this thread.
Soooo.....
Here is my two cents as someone that actually kills these amazingly beautiful creatures every chance I get.
We may be having little effect on them.
They may not actually be doing as much damage as we are led to believe.
I dunno', I perhaps just like killing and eating fish and I like a convenient excuse for my bloodlust.
I choose to err on the side of caution.
They seem to be surviving pretty well down here at the moment.
We did pretty good down here for many thousands of years without them, and we can always reintroduce them if we drive them to extinction in the Atlantic.
Until someone can prove to people smarter than me that we ought to leave them alone, I will kill them on sight.
I am so committed to their distruction that when I find a LF and a bug in the same place at the same time, I whack the LF first.

Chug
Has a very open mind on the subject and likes eating Lionfish.

 

[b-dog]

How does that approach work with things like zebra mussels and grass carp? How about Kudzu?

What about chopping down all of the coconut palms in the Caribbean? Or mango trees? Or coffee trees? Etc. They are all exotic species.

 

[redacted]

What about chopping down all of the coconut palms in the Caribbean? Or mango trees? Or coffee trees? Etc. They are all exotic species.

But none of those are classified as invasive species. Look up the difference between "exotic species" and the subset "invasive species", and Executive Order 13112.

 

[The Chairman]

I am so committed to their distruction that when I find a LF and a bug in the same place at the same time, I whack the LF first.

Yeah, but you just use the Lionfish as bait to get the bug out of his hole! Hey, I like that idea!

 

[b-dog]

But none of those are classified as invasive species. Look up the difference between "exotic species" and the subset "invasive species", and Executive Order 13112.

So how do people know that lionfish are harmful to the ecology? Maybe the reason there are so many lionfish is because people have over fished groupers, snappers, sharks and other predators. I have been diving in Belize and there are lionfish and tons of other fish as well. I think people are over reacting and they want to play Steven Segal the Eco-warrior.

 

[redacted]

So how do people know that lionfish are harmful to the ecology? Maybe the reason there are so many lionfish is because people have over fished groupers, snappers, sharks and other predators. I have been diving in Belize and there are lionfish and tons of other fish as well. I think people are over reacting and they want to play Steven Segal the Eco-warrior.

Do you think that because you have done your own research and arrived at that defensible conclusion or do you think that because that is what you chose to think?

A little somewhat scientific information if you would like: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/400850-origin-lionfish-invasion.html

I'm sure you will be able to find much more if you want to go looking.

 

[vladimir]

The idea that invasive lionfish are okay because "nature will achieve a balance" is sort of like suddenly getting preservation-minded when you are overrun by rats. Yes, nature will achieve a balance, eventually, and we probably won't like it. It may involve mass extinctions. When your favorite reef is a huge mound of calcium carbonate covered with mud and green algae, and inhabited by three species of fish, it is probably too late to reconsider the balance--there's no going back.

But the reefs are probably headed that way anyway. I doubt scuba divers are going to have an effect on the lionfish population, but it's hard to see the downside of killing them. I hope those of you who are against it don't eat fish.

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

After you kill one feed it to the fish/morays. The hope is they will develop a taste for them and start preying on them.