Curacao Lionfish?

[TheWizard]

I'm familiar with lionfish policies on Bonaire but I've got a dive trip to Curacao coming up next, the first half of March.
So what are the rules on Curacao?
Are we allowed to spear the buggers?
Or will all of our dive gear be confiscated if we are found in possession of fish spearing equipment?

 

[gustele]

In Curacao you are not allowed to spear the Lionfish or any other creature. We are losing the battle. During each dive I see multiple Lionfish most in groups of 2 or three under ledges or coral. The second generation (small ones) already arrived and we also have some really big ones (lots of flesh if you dare eating them).
You are supposed to inform Carmabi or LVV when you seen one but up till now I don't see much action from these organisations.

 

[bkpix]

If he doesn't jump into this thread, which he will most likely do, contact Brian at Ocean Encounters West. He'll have the skinny on what is the latest news on that front.

I think they are; oceanencounterswest.com

 

[tarponchik]

Like I said in another thread, I haven't seen any LF at Porto Marie, compared to 3-5 on average at other sites and the record of 11 in a single dive at Plaia Forti. You may try asking them for an explanation ;-))))

 

[Kukuisa]

Like I said in another thread, I haven't seen any LF at Porto Marie, compared to 3-5 on average at other sites and the record of 11 in a single dive at Plaia Forti. You may try asking them for an explanation ;-))))

This Wednesday we say half a dozen at Porto Marie, smalll and big ones.
K.

 

[tarponchik]

This Wednesday we say half a dozen at Porto Marie, smalll and big ones.
K.

You mean, like yesterday? I guess, Forti got too crowded for LF and they went South.

 

[curious2dive]

Hi wizard,

The LF are spread all over the island. You'll even find them in the shallows 2-3 ft. The organizations on the islad have provided beaches with signs what to do if you spot them, but there is not much action. Because of spearfishing is against the law it won't be handy to dive with your speargun. Some nets are provided to catch them.
The bigger ones will end on oure plate because they taste really well.

At the end we'll lose trhis fight because with the substation they are seen in deeper water where recreational divers don't come.

And some spots we have dive shops working to keep their reef clean of LF. But every dive I make and it doesn't matter where we spot them.

So my advice bring a net and nobody has a problem when you're catching the LF.

We dive on less common places so almost 100% guarantee you're gonna spot them.

If you need any other info, please feel free to PM me.

 

[aquajon]

look up lionfish tamer, it is a small pole spear type gun for dealing with the lionfish, it works very well and very compact. you can eat the fish, the only thing that is posionous is the dorsal fins. we were there in sept and saw lionfish on every dive. i marked a bunch with pink ribbon, contacted some people about it and they were like ok we will see what we can do. we also never saw any type of police or marine patrol while diving. have a great trip

 

[greylion]

It's pretty hard to believe that divers will kill enough of these creatures to have much of an effect on the population of lion fish? On Cozumel they kill them on every dive, yet you see them all the time, am I to believe that dive masters will be doing this forever? Hopefully, other local predators will start eating these fish as time goes on.

 

[Korsu]

Well you can speed up the dining process by just bringing a fork.