Just got back from a week long trip and I've never seen so many Lion Fish; I primarily dive in Florida and have only seen a handful there. On one morning, two-tank dive, I saw 11. I saw more in the afternoon dive, but really stopped counting at 20. We did see a group of Lion Fish hunters, so that was at least a good sign. I hope they can encourage more hunting and get restaurants cooking these buggers.
Lion Fish - Too many to count
- Thread starter dvan1901
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They just had a big Lionfish competition in San Pedro and over 600 were bagged and cooked up if you would like to read about it you can click here
Gaz Cooper
Gaz Cooper
Downing
Contributor
dvan1901, where were you diving?
Sadly to say I always thought the battle would be lost, and I still think that. The time that divers are in the water is such a small proportion of the 24, and the space we visit is so restricted, both in extent and especially depth, I don't think we have a hope of containing this population explosion. Sure, we do what we can and we can have an effect around the margins, but if we seriously think we can beat them we are deluding ourselves. BY FAR the best way to combat lion fish is to encourage other species that prey on them, but I see no sign of that being allowed to happen. Local fishermen still catch large groupers as if they're going out of fashion (and they probably are). When I suggested to one of them that we might do better as a whole, and the tourist industry might benefit, if we stopped catching these fish in the area near the town which is so visited by divers, he said the fishermen were here first and they would fish as much as for as long as they wanted, and if the tourists and divers didn't like that they could go elsewhere (not his exact words). He also said that fishermen controlled the Town Board, presumably to indicate that his attitude would prevail.
There have been joke tee-shirts around for a while saying "San Pedro - a drinking town with a diving problem". I think I'll have to get some more made - "San Pedro - a diving village with a fishing problem".
There have been joke tee-shirts around for a while saying "San Pedro - a drinking town with a diving problem". I think I'll have to get some more made - "San Pedro - a diving village with a fishing problem".
diverrex
Contributor
I like your quote - "San Pedro - a diving village with a fishing problem". But sad to say how true it probably is. One of the nice things about diving Belize compared to many other Caribbean islands is the amount of large fish. It's sad to think how likely it is that will change over time. And I agree with you on the human efforts to control the lionfish population, some around the margin which makes people feel like they are doing something. The big problem I see is even if it's being controlledn (which it's obviously not) it will only be so above 130 feet, which simply isn't enough.
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