Lionfish/DM's don't care!

[driftin' by]

Wow this thread just keeps going in circles :chairfight:. Does anybody have anything new to add that is scientifically based on what to do with them?

It's the "skip to the last post and automatically click the reply button without reading a single post" mentality. To "reply" to something implies the you took the time to read something before suggesting for the umpteenth thousand time that introducing the Lionfish's natural predator would be a good idea.

 

[peterbj7]

People who think these lionfish are just another part of nature should see the parallel in the Florida pythons.

Burmese pythons thrive in Florida Everglades - Telegraph

 

[K_girl]

Wow this thread just keeps going in circles :chairfight:. Does anybody have anything new to add that is scientifically based on what to do with them?

Well, I'm not a scientist, but what about building a trap that is unique to lionfish? It's been done for lobsters, crabs, wasps and other creatures. The lionfish is unique with its spines. Looks to me like those spines only go one direction to flatten out. May be a way to build a trap that is unique to that feature and will not trap other animals.

Inventors - put on your thinking caps!

 

[ocbeachbum]

While I have no doubt a suitable trap could be designed, the thing that makes crab/fish traps effective is the bait. Baiting lionfish traps would require killing large quantities of the species that the lionfish like to eat.... Sort of contra-indicated, no?

Another thought I just had is that a possible solution could be, brace yourselves; grow more lionfish. Create genetically modified fish that would be less voracious eaters and/or more prone to cannibalism or have shorter lifespans intermixing with the current populations. A calmer, gentler lionfish. Screw the mousetrap, we have the technology to Build a Better Mouse.

 

[siikik]

Lionfish on a stick. Cook and season to taste... Or if that's not your style, replace lionfish with something else that deserves to be on a stick.

Just where is that "ignore" button??? Psychocabbage...psychocabbage...ah, there it is!

What took you so long to find it?



Ken

 

[1KWIK_69]

So long as a significant population can thrive away from the areas with active population control measures, and so long as ocean currents continue to circulate, the work of controlling their populations around the reefs will NEVER EVER be completed. You could kill every lionfish on every reef in the Atlantic and Caribbean for the next 200 years, and then take a year off, and you'd find lionfish all over those reefs the following year. In other words, I hope everyone is prepared to keep up a fight that can't be won.

I think you misunderstood me. We're on the same side of this!

What you should have taken from my post is "Who cares if they are dispersed all over the open ocean(Away from the protected reefs).

I'm in the same camp as far as humans keeping them as few and far between on the reefs as possible so other juvanile fish can still thrive there without all the lionfish eating them.

In other words with regards to lionfish in the Atlantic, kill em all on the reefs and keep doing it forever because that's all we can do.

 

[1KWIK_69]

While I have no doubt a suitable trap could be designed, the thing that makes crab/fish traps effective is the bait. Baiting lionfish traps would require killing large quantities of the species that the lionfish like to eat.... Sort of contra-indicated, no?

I think K_Girl covered that part when she said "Looks to me like those spines only go one direction to flatten out. May be a way to build a trap that is unique to that feature and will not trap other animals."

 

[ocbeachbum]

I feel like you quoted my post but did not read it. i don't disagree with a trap. i think its a good idea. I was just wondering how you get them to go into the trap.

 

[MSilvia]

I think you misunderstood me. We're on the same side of this!

I think I did understand... I'm just saying that the presence of lionfish in places other than reefs is something you should care about (if you care that lionfish are on the reefs), because those remote lionfish are going to breed, and create a constant supply of additional lionfish for the reefs where you don't want them.

Turning a blind eye to them, in my opinion, is more or less the same as saying you don't care about the swamp full of mosquitos behind the house, so long as we keep swatting the ones in our yard.

I'm in the same camp as far as humans keeping them as few and far between on the reefs as possible so other juvanile fish can still thrive there without all the lionfish eating them.

I recognize this might be feasible as a short term measure, but I'm definately not in the camp that thinks it's a good solution to the problem. It's better than nothing, but I think it's pretty half-assed. I'm interested in looking for better solutions, and while I don't have a better plan, I'm not at all ready to concede that this is the best option. By all means, keep it up, but don't settle for it.

 

[1KWIK_69]

I feel like you quoted my post but did not read it. i don't disagree with a trap. i think its a good idea. I was just wondering how you get them to go into the trap.

I read it. Oh I see it now. You meant the actual killing of friendly fish to use as bait. Well if baiting the trap with one juvanile whatever leads to saving hundreds, it still seems like a good idea.