Lionfish final solution
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kanonfodr
Contributor
Steve50,
BEEE-Yootiful shot (spear and camera). If they truly open up lionfish hunting, expect me to go wherever it is and join in on the festivities. Maybe something like Florida's Lobster Mini-Season?? I still need to do that....
Peace,
Greg
BEEE-Yootiful shot (spear and camera). If they truly open up lionfish hunting, expect me to go wherever it is and join in on the festivities. Maybe something like Florida's Lobster Mini-Season?? I still need to do that....
Peace,
Greg
lmorin
Contributor
Fry them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Give out a $20 bounty per fish. Let divers stab away to their heart's content. Eradication attempts are fruitless. Go dive the Bahamas to see why. We saw 10-12 lionfish every dive. There are tens of thousands already in the Bahamas. If nothing else, those fish serve as a source of new lionfish for the rest of the Caribbean. On Bonaire, the problem may have lurked for years somewhere on the east or north side of the island, out of sight/out of mind, before encroaching on the west side. The ecosystem will adapt. Now, it is more of a question as to why they have proliferated more in some areas than in others. Regardless, Lionfish are now a "natural" part of the Atlantic ecosystem, like it or not. Unless there is lionfish-specific eradication method that is developed and that can be widely administered in the ocean.
1. http://www.blueringedproduction.com/index.php?id=45 -(I've seen more scorpionfish diving in Bonaire in a day than I've seen in many other Carribean Dive destinations. And eels for that matter. (I don't particularly think that they eat lionfish in the Carribean, but it's just a thought) 
2. lionfish progression
-Here's a USGS map suggesting why the Lionfish has just become a problem in Bonaire, outside of sheltering on the "wild" sides of the island.
-Seems to me that some form of complacency (or plain just overwhelming) was originally responsible for the lionfish taking hold in the Bahamas, etc, in the first place. While I don't doubt that it's just a drop in the ocean, I do maintain that there are bound to be specific ecoysystems in the Carribean where the Lionfish will not proliferate, as easy. (Such as, perhaps, Bonaire, or some other fairly "pristine" reef system.) We may find ecosystems that can resist the onslaught or are not as prone to "lionfish proliferation" due to zoologic structure of the reef, unique predator food chains, etc.
Reguardless what prevailing currents drive the lionfish in to Bonaire from Belize, or where ever, making a dent in populations prior to long-term establishment can make a difference, especially in a more "isolated" reef/island system. And I do believe that in a special "instance" like Bonaire visited by onslaught after onslaught of "generally" speaking knowledgeable divers, removal can make a difference. Obviously, we will never get every lionfish, and don't dive every single reef, but we would get many.
Natural selection in some form or another would probably help cut down the rest.--Even without widespread predation.
-To say that it would make no difference at all, if not in the entire Carribean, at least locally it should.
2. lionfish progression
-Here's a USGS map suggesting why the Lionfish has just become a problem in Bonaire, outside of sheltering on the "wild" sides of the island.
-Seems to me that some form of complacency (or plain just overwhelming) was originally responsible for the lionfish taking hold in the Bahamas, etc, in the first place. While I don't doubt that it's just a drop in the ocean, I do maintain that there are bound to be specific ecoysystems in the Carribean where the Lionfish will not proliferate, as easy. (Such as, perhaps, Bonaire, or some other fairly "pristine" reef system.) We may find ecosystems that can resist the onslaught or are not as prone to "lionfish proliferation" due to zoologic structure of the reef, unique predator food chains, etc.
Reguardless what prevailing currents drive the lionfish in to Bonaire from Belize, or where ever, making a dent in populations prior to long-term establishment can make a difference, especially in a more "isolated" reef/island system. And I do believe that in a special "instance" like Bonaire visited by onslaught after onslaught of "generally" speaking knowledgeable divers, removal can make a difference. Obviously, we will never get every lionfish, and don't dive every single reef, but we would get many.
Natural selection in some form or another would probably help cut down the rest.--Even without widespread predation.
-To say that it would make no difference at all, if not in the entire Carribean, at least locally it should.
Sinbad the Diver
Contributor
The dive op we used in the Bahamas had an interesting approach, the DM would spear them then feed them to a pair of morays that lived nearby. The morays will eat them when they smell blood but won't go near them when they are not bloodied, the DM had similar experiences with sharks, though the sharks reaction after eating it was to rub it's face on rocks for a while...but it still came back for more later.
Another thing we noted was that they tend to congregate at night in bunches, we saw a dozen or more on a plate coral during a night dive, we had only seen 2 or three on that reef that morning.
I'm not sure there is much of an answer at this point, culling them may end up being more damaging than leaving them alone based on what I've seen in other species (deer populations exploding due to management through hunting). But leaving them alone seems to be a bad idea as well, we can only hope that natural balance will eventualy be achieved because some species figures out they are good eats or the species they prey on begin to see them as predators.
Another thing we noted was that they tend to congregate at night in bunches, we saw a dozen or more on a plate coral during a night dive, we had only seen 2 or three on that reef that morning.
I'm not sure there is much of an answer at this point, culling them may end up being more damaging than leaving them alone based on what I've seen in other species (deer populations exploding due to management through hunting). But leaving them alone seems to be a bad idea as well, we can only hope that natural balance will eventualy be achieved because some species figures out they are good eats or the species they prey on begin to see them as predators.
You're joking right??
All you have to do is look at examples such:
- Abalone
- Coho Salmon
- Sockeye Salmon
- Atlantic Cod
- Atlantic Salmon
- Sperm Whales
- California Condor
- Spotted Owls
- Eastern European minorities circa 1940
Etc, Etc, etc..
Man is very effective at the systematic elimination of things it either loves or hates.
The lionfish is no different.
tarponchik
Contributor
...or The Great Sparrow Campaign in China Great sparrow campaign - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But does anyone know what the natural enemies of the lionfish are? Who preys on lionfish in the Pacific?
But does anyone know what the natural enemies of the lionfish are? Who preys on lionfish in the Pacific?
shotgun.tycoon
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Bocas del Toro, Panama Dec. 24, 2009
3 hovering over a coral head. Was able to get 2 of them.
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Saw one at Costa Maya, Mexico last week while diving. They're a problem there, too.
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