Lionfish Hunting in Bonaire and Curacao

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XS-NRG

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I've been trying to look up info on lionfish hunting in Bonaire and Curacao and have come up with old articles and wonder what the current status of this is.

I've heard in Bonaire you can only do it on a boat dive with a local guide. What about Curacao. Sounds like spearfishing is illegal everywhere and you can get your gear taking away from you if you're caught with a spear.

What's the full story on this?
 
you are correct on the no spearfishing in Curacao. though, we did it the entire week we were there with our dive op - they even supplied a Zookeeper and a few more full length pole spearsonce they knew we were serious about it. If you are doing a charter, I wouldn't worry about it but of course ask first - they may even hook you up. I will say however that I was mildly scolded after coming up from a shore dive with my short 6 prong lionfish only spear and reminded of the no spearfishing law and the consequences. What you would use a polespear for there other than lionfish in Curacao would be a challenge - saw only 1 grouper (yellow mouth) that was maybe 20 inches - no gags, blacks, or Nassau. There was a nice tuna school however that came through the shore dive area but didn't get to witness it. Tons of bait fish but no big fish other than barracuda :( AFA the lionfish - they are certainly abundant. Saw big ones everywhere from a few on the shore breakwater all the way down the walls. Not so many up on the reefs but once you hit 60 + sadly you start seeing lots. They really need to have open season them as they eat fabulous. think we had sashimi each and every day - finding the wasabi & soy sauce was the hard part
 
You can hunt lionfish in both Curacao and Bonaire. Bonaire is a little tougher because you have to take a class, pay a fee, and can only use an ELF. They made it legal in Curacao to use short polespears there for the lionfish. The Zookeeper lionfish container was actually developed in Curacao, and Ocean Frontiers makes regularly scheduled lionfish hunts.
Dive Centers and Guides that Promote Lionfish Hunting and Hunter Education

It's simpler to say where you CAN'T hunt lionfish around the Caribbean and Central/South America, which is very few places these days. The french islands other than Guadeloupe, the Turks & Caicos, and the BVI are the only places I'm aware of that tourists cannot hunt lionfish.
 
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