Got any update late yesterday. There are 100 minispears available. 70 will be going out to government divers (Navy maybe police etc.). 30 will be available to volunteers that are willing to undergo training and register them. I don't know when they will be available, but they are being passed out by LVV in conjunction with Carmabi. I'm assuming people interested in volunteering can contact LVV at 737-0288.
Lionfish Awareness and Elimination
- Thread starter annieols
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kroorda
Contributor
In the Cayman islands, Reef Divers (a diving company on Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac) are teaching Groupers to go after and gobble up Lionfish. Now, we need to do all we can to protect the Goupers! I've also learned that anemonies love to eat Lionfish. Therefore, if you catch a Lionfish, feed it to an anemone. (Natures' perfect garbage recycler).
Happened to turn on HDNET in a hotel room the other night. This is the only time I have ever watched Dan Rather reports. He had an interesting 30 minute story on lionfish. Very good video. Will let people who have done more research than I have comment on the validity of the story, but again, the underwater video was interesting at least.
There are no 50 navy divers on Curacao.
Karel, yeah, I wondered about that. I figured between the Dutch Navy, the Dutch and US coastguard, and the Curacao Police divers they couldn't come up with 70, but that is the number they released...
stcroix
Registered
Some good discussion here. Kind of reminds me of the climate debate... in that we cannot sit still and do nothing until everyone agrees.
What would really be helpful would be to see LINKs to actual & recent research.
Regarding the relationship between reef and reef fish: The health of both is important and so obviously inter-connected that I'm shocked some suggest otherwise.
It doesn't take a reef scientist to realize the danger of a sudden explosion of a new voracious predator in a new environment. And that's what we are definitely seeing, an explosion.
Therefore, I'm all in favor of trying to control the lionfish population while the scientists sort out the details and give us new options.
What would really be helpful would be to see LINKs to actual & recent research.
Regarding the relationship between reef and reef fish: The health of both is important and so obviously inter-connected that I'm shocked some suggest otherwise.
It doesn't take a reef scientist to realize the danger of a sudden explosion of a new voracious predator in a new environment. And that's what we are definitely seeing, an explosion.
Therefore, I'm all in favor of trying to control the lionfish population while the scientists sort out the details and give us new options.
Why can we not spear and eat LF on Bonaire? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to learn how to spear, cut off the poisionous barbs, and stuff them in a lobster hotel or other bag? They are easy to clean, gut, and cook. In Florida we can spear as many as we can find. Killing and feeding them to eels, grouper, and other animals only teaches them that divers will feed them. People need to be the number one predator for the invasive species. We will never eradicate them, but for every one we kill (and eat) it is 30,000 less LF that will be able to reproduce. I am going to Bonaire at the end of June, and am dismayed that I cannot contribute to the elimination or control of them by spearing them and introducing them as food to the others in the group that will be with me. Why is killing them in Bonaire to eat them such a problem, if our only goal is to kill them and no other species of fish??
Guba
Contributor
I may be wrong, but it may be the authorities are more worried about what ELSE will get speared in addition to the lionfish. I know, I know...it's a matter of trust, but the "powers-that-be" tend to be careful whom they let have certain privileges. For example, my state trusts me to carry a concealed handgun. However, I had to go to class and pass both a written and practical before I got the state's permisson to carry that sidearm. It very possibly will gravitate in that direction with spearing in certain areas in time, but we'll just have to wait and see.
drrich2
Contributor
With the gun, you've little incentive to misuse it under most circumstances.
Many people like killing things, and more still like eating things. Or poking at an animal to get it to 'do something' (like kids tapping on the aquarium glass at zoos). Consider how at Bonaire they regulated against wearing gloves to discourage touching things - imagine what people would do with sticks (e.g.: poke sponges to see if they're soft or rigid, try to run shrimp or frogfish out, etc...) And even a small minority, say 5%, of divers misusing the spearing tools could be problematic, I suppose. It's a risk/benefit ratio issue; if the dive guides don't put a sufficient dent in them, well...
I'm not against letting regular recreational dives get a cert./class/training and hunt lionfish, just pointing out there is indeed a rational counter-concern.
Richard.
Many people like killing things, and more still like eating things. Or poking at an animal to get it to 'do something' (like kids tapping on the aquarium glass at zoos). Consider how at Bonaire they regulated against wearing gloves to discourage touching things - imagine what people would do with sticks (e.g.: poke sponges to see if they're soft or rigid, try to run shrimp or frogfish out, etc...) And even a small minority, say 5%, of divers misusing the spearing tools could be problematic, I suppose. It's a risk/benefit ratio issue; if the dive guides don't put a sufficient dent in them, well...
I'm not against letting regular recreational dives get a cert./class/training and hunt lionfish, just pointing out there is indeed a rational counter-concern.
Richard.
So back to annieols' course. My wife and I are taking it now. Finished the background material and first dive. We had a good discussion about the material and it raised some questions. Many of those questions are reflected in the comments in this thread.
History has shown that many man introduced invasives (e.g. lampreys, zebra mussels), once they reach critical population density, have a sudden, shocking impact on the environment rather than the gradual change that would probably have already naturally occurred (lionfish have had millions of years to get from the Indo-Pacific to Caribbean, and never got established over here).
My personal conclusions are that there is a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it. Many questions. At this time, I am of the position that Lionfish aggravate all the other stresses reefs are under and should be removed manually (speared) as a stop gap measure until other controls are worked out. Disposal via eating the big ones or leaving the bodies on the reef for carrion eaters both seem reasonable to me.
I hope there is never a commercial industry for them because that would presume numbers remain high, though their use as a source of biomedical compounds would be nice. If there was a market for the toxin and it paid $100 per fish, I presume you'd see their density reduced fairly quickly.
One last comment, not about the content of the course but about the ELF spear. As an engineer and diver, I see quite a bit of opportunity for improvement. When I found out how much the device costs and that it is the only approved device in Bonaire, I have to say this looks a bit fishy (pardon the pun).
Overall my impression of the course is that it is informative in that it shows how little we know about how to address the problem and how quickly this has become a problem. My wife got a kick out of playing with the ELF spear. End of the day, I'm glad we did it.
I suspect STINAPA will move on opening up removal of lionfish to all divers fairly quickly because diving is the life blood of Bonaire and there are far more visitors than locals. For example, I keep coming back to Bonaire because of the very high density of small reef fish. If I need to start flying to Asia for good diving, I will, but I love Bonaire, both the people and the diving, and would hate to write this place off. I've visited other places in the Caribbean where lionfish administered the coup de gras to already stressed reefs, and I don't go there any more.
It seems reasonable to me that STINAPA to require training of divers to control who will be licensed to spear on the reef, and I think this PADI course is one avenue. I also think the ELF spear is a suboptimal choice for reasons of cost, durability, serviceability, and effectiveness.
- Why do lionfish populations in the Caribbean/Atlantic look so different (much higher density, adults get so much larger) than in their native range?
- Why don't you see a lionfish at a cleaning station? Is this different than in their native range?
- Why isn't research identifying what is different about their native environment than in the new environment to determine what naturally keeps them in check? All the money seems to be in research here instead of in the Indo-Pacific.
- If releases from private aquariums are a continuous source of adults into the environment, why aren't they controlled? For example, in the USA, keeping piranha is controlled by permit to prevent introduction into vulnerable environments.
History has shown that many man introduced invasives (e.g. lampreys, zebra mussels), once they reach critical population density, have a sudden, shocking impact on the environment rather than the gradual change that would probably have already naturally occurred (lionfish have had millions of years to get from the Indo-Pacific to Caribbean, and never got established over here).
My personal conclusions are that there is a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it. Many questions. At this time, I am of the position that Lionfish aggravate all the other stresses reefs are under and should be removed manually (speared) as a stop gap measure until other controls are worked out. Disposal via eating the big ones or leaving the bodies on the reef for carrion eaters both seem reasonable to me.
I hope there is never a commercial industry for them because that would presume numbers remain high, though their use as a source of biomedical compounds would be nice. If there was a market for the toxin and it paid $100 per fish, I presume you'd see their density reduced fairly quickly.
One last comment, not about the content of the course but about the ELF spear. As an engineer and diver, I see quite a bit of opportunity for improvement. When I found out how much the device costs and that it is the only approved device in Bonaire, I have to say this looks a bit fishy (pardon the pun).
Overall my impression of the course is that it is informative in that it shows how little we know about how to address the problem and how quickly this has become a problem. My wife got a kick out of playing with the ELF spear. End of the day, I'm glad we did it.
I suspect STINAPA will move on opening up removal of lionfish to all divers fairly quickly because diving is the life blood of Bonaire and there are far more visitors than locals. For example, I keep coming back to Bonaire because of the very high density of small reef fish. If I need to start flying to Asia for good diving, I will, but I love Bonaire, both the people and the diving, and would hate to write this place off. I've visited other places in the Caribbean where lionfish administered the coup de gras to already stressed reefs, and I don't go there any more.
It seems reasonable to me that STINAPA to require training of divers to control who will be licensed to spear on the reef, and I think this PADI course is one avenue. I also think the ELF spear is a suboptimal choice for reasons of cost, durability, serviceability, and effectiveness.
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