Lionfish cull on Grand Cayman, everybody welcome

[master_diver_UJ]

Back home after a week in Grand Cayman. I didn't get an opportunity to take the DOE course or participate in the LionFish cull. I did have multiple opportunities to eat them though - and they are delicious !

Weather wise - it wasn't the best week I've spent in the Caymans, but the diving was fantastic !

John

 

[mi000ke]

We just got back as well. Spent the week diving with Casey at Neptune's divers. Her team won for largest lionfish and tied for second largest. We were staying across the street from Duke's so were able to walk over for a sample of the catch. Weather was not perfect but a heck of a lot better than February in New England. The diving was outstanding.

 

[scoobydrew]

The food samples were pretty good huh? I loved that gumbo!

Glad you made it, it was a good event

 

[master_diver_UJ]

Yeah, Drew - the food was fantastic !

I spent Thursday morning on the North wall - was really surprised at the number of mature LionFish still out there...

John

 

[scoobydrew]

John

Yes, the amount, size and behaviour of lionfish vary depending on what part of the island you are on. The west typically doesn't have very many shallower than 130' due to the volume of divers and therefore spear fishing that happens there. Due to weather, less diving happens on the north, east and south throughout the year so the lionfish there are bothered less giving them a better chance to populate.

We really wanted to go north for the tournament but the weather prohibited that on both days.

I'm glad you enjoyed the whole experience, look up CULL next time you are in the neighbourood, the event runs every three months so who knows, you might make it to another.

Safe diving

Drew

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The tournaments help with awareness, but the most prolific hunting team doesn't participate. They'd rather set their own schedule and sell their catch to the restaurants.

They are pulling in totals that equal or exceed the first place finishers from the tournament. And they do it every week that the weather cooperates and they can get out there. Whole house smells like fish by the time they are done cleaning their catch.

Dive East. Still more than enough to go around.

 

[scubadada]

Hey there all

The Cayman United Lionfish League organises a lionfish cull on Grand Cayman once every 3 months and the next one is almost upon us, it's gonna be an awesome event!

The competition that takes place on Feb 27th & 28th is open for residents, visitors, dive centres, buddy pairs, whoever... the idea is to get as many people along culling lionfish as possible.

Even if you don't shoot, everyone is welcome to the weigh in party on the Saturday & Sunday,. It takes place in a bar so it'll be a time to hang out, drink beer, eat lionfish and swap tall stories with divers, what could be better?

There is a write up in this months edition of Diver Magazine (North America) on the last event if you'd like to read about the kind of thing that goes on.

Registration for the event is on Thursday 25th, everything will be held in Dukes at the top of Seven Mile but anyone who is out east that wants to take part, there is an additional registration being held in Eagle Rays (the bar in Ocean Frontiers)

If you need info etc then feel free to drop me a line, I always love to meet other members of Scubaboard so if you do come along then please say hi, my name's Drew and I'll be shooting for team Divetech

Eat em to beat em!

Hi Drew,

Nice article in the most recent Diver Magazine, 41:2. Looks like a lot of new or infrequently visited dive sites off Grand Cayman.

Good diving, Craig

 

[scoobydrew]

Craig

Many thanks for that, the article came out well and I was really pleased with everything. The only grumble comes from the magazine misprinting my name, the article is listed as being written by Drew Richardson, my last name is McArthur.
But thats no biggie at all, the event, the culling, the awareness, in general everything else is awesome.

Re the dive sites - Our plan is always to go to dive sites that are frequented as little as possible. We use a buddy's little fishing boat and sometimes drop anchor in the sand in order to position ourselves as far away from moored dive sites as possible. Alternatively, if we know of sites that don't get used much then we head there.

The reason for this is that typically, such areas have more lionfish due to the reduced volume of culling that takes place.

The knock on effect is that when we are out there on these escapades, we get to find some absolutely stunning areas that we previously had no idea existed.

Thanks again for your feedback, it is appreciated.

Drew

 

[scubadada]

Craig

Many thanks for that, the article came out well and I was really pleased with everything. The only grumble comes from the magazine misprinting my name, the article is listed as being written by Drew Richardson, my last name is McArthur.
But thats no biggie at all, the event, the culling, the awareness, in general everything else is awesome.

Re the dive sites - Our plan is always to go to dive sites that are frequented as little as possible. We use a buddy's little fishing boat and sometimes drop anchor in the sand in order to position ourselves as far away from moored dive sites as possible. Alternatively, if we know of sites that don't get used much then we head there.

The reason for this is that typically, such areas have more lionfish due to the reduced volume of culling that takes place.

The knock on effect is that when we are out there on these escapades, we get to find some absolutely stunning areas that we previously had no idea existed.

Thanks again for your feedback, it is appreciated.

Drew

Hi Drew,

That's a really major error, how could that have possibly happened? I would love to return to Cayman and dive some of these less dived spots. I have 10 visits to Grand Cayman and 182 dives there.

Good diving, Craig