Concerns surface as local divers spot non-native fish in Florida waters

[Hank49]

Simple solution....just have environmental groups come up with a fund to cover a "Bounty" for any lionfish shot by spearfisherman and documented.....Just having every spearfisherman shoot any lionfish on sight would probably work almost as well--they could think of it as a "righteous shoot"


Dan V

I worked with a group of divers trying to eradicate crown of thorns starfish, much less mobile than even lionfish, from a mere 6 mile stretch of beach and reef. Every week 30-40 of us went out and collected them and disposed of them in a hole we had dug. And every week we went back out, it hardly seemed like we'd been there the week before. And the lionfish has been seen from Florida up to the Carolinas? good luck. I'd say they're there to stay.
They're predators but the tang is an algae eater. They shouldn't hurt and maybe they'll cross with the blue one we have and make a pretty green one? Angel fish are coral and algae eaters also I believe.

 

[aquaman_06]

wow yellow tangs and emperor angelfish. The yellow tangs are rather inexpensive marine fish but emperor angelfish are high priced aquarium ornamentals. The lionfish have been down there for a while. sounds like an ecological disaster waiting to happen.

 

[shoredivr]

Jviehe, thanks for posting the article. Finally a researched article on what seems to be a common sense reason for invasive species appearing where they do.

I remember a previous thread on the Lionfish invasion, and someone purporting to be from the aquarium trade thought it unlikely that people would release valuable fish into the water, IIRC. This poster thought that aquarium stores would pay divers to catch the lionfish for sale. Or reasle, as the case may be.

The whole tropical fish trade makes me nuts. In Bonaire, I was told by divemasters that frogfish were being collected for this trade, even though it's a protected park. In Hawai'i I was told the same thing about leaf scorpionfish. Increasingly rare fish being snatched off the reefs for sale to people who get tired of them, or have the fish outgrow the tank and then dump them into water that they never came from. There's something just wrong about this.

 

[danvolker]

I worked with a group of divers trying to eradicate crown of thorns starfish, much less mobile than even lionfish, from a mere 6 mile stretch of beach and reef. Every week 30-40 of us went out and collected them and disposed of them in a hole we had dug. And every week we went back out, it hardly seemed like we'd been there the week before. And the lionfish has been seen from Florida up to the Carolinas? good luck. I'd say they're there to stay.
They're predators but the tang is an algae eater. They shouldn't hurt and maybe they'll cross with the blue one we have and make a pretty green one? Angel fish are coral and algae eaters also I believe.

I can tell you that certain species which ARE desirable to spear, can be decimated...In south florida, the Hogsnapper is one of the best tasting fish there is, and it is only taken by spear--they don't get caught by hook and line. In the 90's the Hogfish population was dwindling, and now it is a tiny fraction of what it once was. My guess is that the hogfish are much more prolific breeders than lionfish are, other wise the lionfish would have overpopulated the reefs in the pacific where they are indiginous. Assuming the lion fish are slow to reproduce, if every spearfisherman shot ay lionfish on sight, this would be much more pressure than the hogfish evergot...and the lionfish would be easy top shoot compared to hogfish....
Dan

 

[Hank49]

That's the big IF though. It would take a dedicated effort to go out and kill lionfish on a regular basis. And, to stay on top of it. You won't get them all...it only took a few to grow into what is there today. You may knock them back but you won't ever get rid of them.
Hogfish are overfished here in Belize too.....but even in the heaviest fished areas (commercial spearos), I still see small size ones. Also, I've caught a lot of hogfish, big and small, using shrimp for bait on hook and line.

 

[Just Phish]

Jviehe, thanks for posting the article. Finally a researched article on what seems to be a common sense reason for invasive species appearing where they do.

I remember a previous thread on the Lionfish invasion, and someone purporting to be from the aquarium trade thought it unlikely that people would release valuable fish into the water, IIRC. This poster thought that aquarium stores would pay divers to catch the lionfish for sale. Or reasle, as the case may be.

The whole tropical fish trade makes me nuts. In Bonaire, I was told by divemasters that frogfish were being collected for this trade, even though it's a protected park. In Hawai'i I was told the same thing about leaf scorpionfish. Increasingly rare fish being snatched off the reefs for sale to people who get tired of them, or have the fish outgrow the tank and then dump them into water that they never came from. There's something just wrong about this.

I am curious what about the trade drives you nuts? You do realize that there are far more destructive forces acting on the worlds reefs than just the ornamental fish trade right? Like blast fishing to put food on tables?

In late July and August I dive local waters in CT and RI to catch my own marine tropicals. I have not seen a lionfish yet, but others while I was diving did see them. I hope I catch a few this summer. I know of someone on the atlantic side of Long Island that has caught a ton of them. The good thing about them being up here is they quickly die around Thanksgiving time of year.

 

[Tommy2tone_1999]

If they ever get in to the Gulf as far west as Louisiana, that's as far as they'll go. Tell a Cajun that "dose fish tase' like speckled trout and dats da end of dem lionfish."