lionfish in Cozumel

[cruiser]

I'm thinking a 12" Bar-B-Q fork strapped to the calf somehow, spear the fish in the soft abdomen, drop it for the crabs.

I agree with taking them out, Don. The fork needs a much longer handle, though

 

[deborahdelamar]

I've been killing them for a couple years now. Even have my own homemade sling waiting to be used over and over again on Coz. I could care less that some divers have an issue with me killing them on my dives. Whenever I have done my duty on them, not once did I come close to injuring another diver. Managed to get a little hit from one on my index finger, three hours of some kinda sore then poof, pain gone...
I have talked to lots of Dms that wont kill them for their own reasons and thats fine. The majority will dispatch them. Some are ok with their well known divers killing them as long as they are really experienced. But the common thing is, not responsible for your actions underwater. I know I have just invited a real blast but I'm down with that. Most dont know how I dive or how experienced I am and thats' fine. The people that I dive with trust me, that's all that matters, I also trust them. For one thing they know I'm a solo diver so I take all responsibility for my actions, from diving to hunting. And I do a lot of hunting on Coz...
These things are all spotted during dives that I have dedicated to finding at least one lionfish to kill. For me I dont need a divemaster to make my dive succesful. But I certainly can appreciate those that want their dm to spot creatures and lead the dive. I think it would be a good thing during the dive briefing, so there are no hard feelings, to tell the dm whether or not one is ok with him/her doing any lionfish hunting on their dive. Nothing wrong with that.
To the ones that are going to flame the crap out of me, I talked to the authorities about what I was doing and I was told, in my words now, just be careful. They know my experience with hunting and expressed that they would prefer divers not do it, but did not say I would be prosecuted in any way for killing a lionfish in the park.
By the way, the official word is that dms are the only ones that have authority to dispatch the lionfish. Which by the way is a good idea. People may think that the lionfish are slow moving fish as they appear that way. They are lightning fast when attacked. They can dart so fast a diver would not know what hit him, so be warned about getting too close to them.
kevin

I'm more than happy to flame you for this post, Kevin.

You really don't get it, do you?

Oversimplified, the Parque's regulation vs. "word" is that only those employed to work in the Parque are allowed to capture and/or kill lionfish. Those employees -- meaning the licensed op you dive with and its parque-certified employees -- are charged with guardianship of the environment as well as for the well-being of their customers.

You here state unequivocally that your op isn't doing its job.

No matter how great a diver or hunter you are, Mr. Temporary Guest of the United States of Mexico, you are not qualified or permitted to take or kill or feed -- or even touch -- anything in the Parque Marino. Period.

Without a written permiso for its customers to hunt lionfish -- ja, ja, good luck getting one of those! -- your op has zero assurance of immunity against prosecution or punishment.

You have exempted yourselves from Federal regulations on the basis that you "Know better?" or "Can do better?" Those are meaningless, personal opinions that you should re-examine if you plan to return to this country.

And you, Kevin, advertise these facts on a HUGE public divers' forum?! Very, very foolish.

 

[mike_s]

I'm more than happy to flame you for this post, Kevin.

[snip]

Mr. Temporary Guest of the United States of Mexico,

The United States of Mexico?

 

[deborahdelamar]

The United States of Mexico?

Not a joke. Official name of Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

 

[judydivescoz]

The United States of Mexico?

FYI
Mexico - United Mexican States - Country Profile - Estados Unidos Mexicanos - Mexico Tourism

 

[mike_s]

Not a joke. Official name of Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

always seen that as ""United Mexican States"" (as Judy pointed out).

 

[deborahdelamar]

always seen that as ""United Mexican States"" (as Judy pointed out).

Yes, that's the correct translation. Often used in conversation here is Estados Unidos de Mexico -- same concept but more comfortable for us country bumpkins to say...May be in reaction to so many visitors from the other Estados Unidos.

 

[robint]

another big problem with divers killing the lionfish is that the buggers are now being found at deeper depths... 100' or more. Our DM would signal us to stay as he went down to spear, then he would pop back up with us. I can see crazy tourist/divers heading down to 100-150' depths to spear a lionfish and running out of air or get DCS or other issues.... all to spear a lionfish. Let's all keep our heads, point them out to DM, let them take care of them out on boat dives. Now, in shallow water shore dives, no problem catching them, IMHO. As I said before, we didn't kill, only caught them... the dive shop killed them.

robin

 

[firstdive2005]

Hi Deb- I didnt put his name out there because he asked me not to. Not out fear for loosing his job either or he would not have emailed me with it or invited me done to talk about it to listen about some ideas. I do get it. I am taking a risk if you will. Who knows what might be done if a park narc is diving and sees me at pressure killing a lion fish so his park will stay healthy. If you read all my posting you will see I dont condone it as a means of shear sport, like sport fishing which I think is cruel. oh oh.
I dive with a couple dive ops which ones are not doing there job and what is their job. Especially if the divers that are with them have had specific training which was available. Not sure if it is now, I will find out soon. And if you read my post, you will see that a lot of the ops aren't taking the survey notes to the park office like requested for evaluation because they are not paid to do that. I took my survey to them, they really liked that.
Time of day, depth, current direction, water temp, and location of kill with description of underwater site of kill. This is what I took them when we initially spoke as this was close to what was requested of the hunters here with game that was culled. I am not a biologist but I'm sure they had a field day with the numbers.
I am sensing a lot of protection of the reefs which is great but anger at me for trying to help, I dont understand. There is more to this methinks. Close to slanderous remarks should not be in the discussion. This about helping an island that I think upwards to 20000$ a year at, Oh my is that beating my chest too. Jumpin' I was not boasting about the kills allthough I have killed over a hundred of them. Now that's boasting.
I dont think that there are divers changing their dive plans now because of this thread. In that they think it's open season on Coz and they should take their spears and hooks to the island for fun. First of all the dms wont allow newbie divers to the island to do this and secondly you cant use a spear gun. The tool must not leave your hand.
Let's figure out a way to help eradicate the little fellas or keep the pop. of them down.

 

[DandyDon]

I agree with taking them out, Don. The fork needs a much longer handle, though

Yeah they talked me out of the fork. Really need the 19" BBQ fork with sharper points than I was to carry around. Never was much of a hunter.