Cozumel and other Caribbean destinations re lionfish

[Hawkwood]

Lionfish have a negative impact on the reef but I would suspect overfishing,lack of reef protected zones and enforcement of such, and human originated pollution have a bigger impact on reef health and marine life population in most locations.

Not to mention coral diseases (white-band disease for example) and urchin die-off that have lead to stressed reef environments in some locations.

 

[scrane]

Diving in Roatan in October I saw many large Lionfish and dive masters seemed unconcerned. On Roatan in February I saw no Lionfish but divemasters carried short Hawaiian slings just in case.

OOPS. Actually meant Cozumel in February. A dose of of nitrogen narcosis at sea level.

 

[Saltyhawg]

Only two Caribbean destinations we have been to are Belize (Ambergris Caye) and Cozumel. In Cozumel fish populations were good. Queen, French and Gray angels were everywhere. File fish, cowfish, chromis, wrasse were everywhere. Lots of juvi tangs and angels. We only saw 4 lionfish total in 17 dives. 3 of them died , one escaped. All were small. The DM's told us they used to kill lots of large lionfish but now see only small ones and not many of them.

In Belize there were more lionfish and far fewer reef fish. Only saw one Queen angel all week and all fish numbers seemed a fraction of Cozumel. The dive masters did carry slings and aggressively eliminated the lionfish. I think they have not been at it as long as Cozumel has.

The one exception to the above was Hol Chan Marine Reserve. It had huge schools of fish (margates, snapper, grouper, grunts, porkfish...but not what I think of as REEF fish). So maybe both overfishing and lionfish are responsible. All the dive sites we did in Cozumel were in the park and protected from fishing.


Hol Chan

 

[PatW]

That is interesting. Little Cayman was on his list of places where things have badly deteriorated from 15 years ago.

I have done Little Cayman every year for the past 8 years which was prior to the lion fish invasion. I think the fish populations have not changed that much. For big grouper, I used to see pretty much only Nassau grouper. Last year, I saw some good sized tiger and black grouper. The lion fish are there but I think their populations spiked about 3 years ago. Hopefully, the large predators are figuring out that they are edible.

 

[AggieDiver]

I would agree. I have been diving Little Cayman and Cayman Brac since before the Lionfish hit the Caribbean, and I don't notice a big difference in fish populations. The one exception is that I just don't see as many green morays on Little Cayman as I seem to remember seeing in the past. I am not sure if it is that I am not swimming around looking under every coral head like I used to when I was younger, or if they are sharing the same kinds of hidey holes as lionfish and suffering consequences from trying to eat them.

 

[Sloeber]

The one exception is that I just don't see as many green morays on Little Cayman as I seem to remember seeing in the past. I am not sure if it is that I am not swimming around looking under every coral head like I used to when I was younger, or if they are sharing the same kinds of hidey holes as lionfish and suffering consequences from trying to eat them.

This is my concern. The DM's are teaching the morays that a lionfish is food by feeding them a dead or at least injured lionfish. Problem is morays are nearly blind and hunt by scent and attack. The groupers are cunning and can hunt the lionfish until an opening arises. A moray in all likely is eventually going to pay the price for eating lionfish. I fear the big greens will be a thing of the past in years to come.

 

[Zman96]

I did 8 dives last week and the week before. 3 of them were dedicated lionfish hunting dives and we saw very few. The 3 sites we went hunting on were all up north and in years past were very populated with them. We only were able to get a total of 7 or 8 on those dives in total compared to dozens and dozens in years past.

 

[PatW]

I was at Little Cayman last August. I saw a number of big green morays. I never see a bunch of morays at Little Cayman. For morays, I see the most at Roatan and Utila. I wonder if that is the result of the fishing pressure removing the big grouper and snapper leaving the morays as the major predator.

a few years ago both of the Bay Islands seem inundated with lion fish. The last couple of years, the populations were much lower. The local dive masters think that the Sharks have learned to hunt lion fish.

 

[Sloeber]

a few years ago both of the Bay Islands seem inundated with lion fish. The last couple of years, the populations were much lower. The local dive masters think that the Sharks have learned to hunt lion fish.

I spent 3 years living and working the Bay Islands. I'm not trying to discredit what you were told, but there is a horrifying lack of sharks, groupers, and snappers in the Bay Islands solely because of over fishing. If a dive center published swimming with a hammerhead on Monday at Black Hills, by Wednesday a local was showing off the shark strung up at the dock. Speaking of Utila specifically, that island only has 4 DM's worth a darn (Adam and Josh at Laguna, Bella at Deep Blue, and Bogdan on the Cayes). Everyone else ther eis just passing through on the travel circuit. The reason for the decline in population for Utila is because of the over-ambitious DMs and DMTs at the dive centers. That island pumps out DMTs perhaps second to none, and every one of them is excited about hunting lionfish. For what that is, they've done a nice job of cleaning up the recreational depths around the island. Now if they could only get the locals to stop killing everything that swims...

My landlord used to go out fishing once a week or so. Coming back with buckets of conch and cracking the shells right on their dock was no big deal. You could tell there was a sense of uneasiness around though, when I would walk down and see what they were doing. It was illegal, but nobody cared for the most part. My neighbor reported them once, she was evicted from her apartment the next day while the landlords were asked to return the now dead conch shells to the sea (but keep the meat) and issued no fine because the marine park was good friends with this family. Or the time the landlord was showing off a huge rainbow parrotfish he speared as he says to me, "I haven't seen this parrotfish here at this size since before my son was born (he was 14)." So naturally he had to spear and kill it. This was quite normal there and I don't say this to be passing judgement on them. It's how they've always lived - from the sea. And this ins't picking on Utila because it's like this in many islands across the Caribbean. Jamiaca anyone? I'm just saying until that way of thinking is changed you are not going to see the populations of the big predators rebound. Without the big predators, there is little hope because every island can't be packed with 20 year olds wanting to dive dive dive and kill kill kill lionfish. And even then they can only go down to recreational depths... without the predators rebounding those reefs are in trouble.

The flip side is the lionfish presents itself as the perfect "feeder fish" despite its tricky spines. Slow moving, plentiful... if we give the apex predators a chance it could be a quick rebound feasting on the bountiful lionfish.

Except for the green morays. revisit the thought in about 2-3 years and see how the populations look then.

 

[gopbroek]

I did 8 dives last week and the week before. 3 of them were dedicated lionfish hunting dives and we saw very few. The 3 sites we went hunting on were all up north and in years past were very populated with them. We only were able to get a total of 7 or 8 on those dives in total compared to dozens and dozens in years past.

The local fishermen are actively hunting them for the restaurant trade, a good thing. I personnely think they are the best tasting fish going and unlike groupers I don't feel guilty eating them, with grouper I can't help feeling like I am eating a friendly dog from down the street.