Anyone Interested in Lionfish hunting up North after the regularly scheduled dives?

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Here on St Croix, a trained group of Lionfish Hunters hits the water as a group about every two weeks. In-between, LF divers and local scuba shop personnel are bagging them as they see them, or when they're called out by other divers to hotspots. Control efforts, mostly volunteer led at this point, have been successful, and the USVI govt has recently held hearings on legislation to coordinate and expand the efforts.

There's a variety of weaponry being used. Some use polespears, though IMO, fewer and fewer, probably due to the length of the pole being too cumbersome to carry on every dive. Instead, we're seeing more short spearguns of the JBL mini carbine variety (there are several lengths). I've seen the accuspears in action and they're okay, but you can't change its tip. Based on experience, the local non-profit LF group is now promoting a 6 pointed barb over the traditional 3 pointed tip (manufactured by Trident). Reason being: LF are strong swimmers and in many reef environments around here they are found 'down' in the reef, and once shot, are able to swim further in a bit and wriggle off the barbs. Less a problem if you catch them out in the open and can pin them against the reef with the spear. Depends on the type of reef you're diving in.

As for the comment that "shooting LF is like shooting fish in a barrel" ...once the LF get spooked by divers, they get wary and use their exceptional speed to evade other divers. Which is to say, "please don't miss."
 
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