Lionfish problem SOLVED

[Mike]

Sorry guys, all you're saying is pipe dreams. This has been going on for a long long time and nothing is being created but begging and aggresive fish. You forget that for 10 years the lionfish invasion has been slowly marching south, with each country pretending that they are the first people to deal with the problem. There are lots of scientific studies that have been done on the major ecological problems of feeding fish. It's no surprise a moray or any predator is going to like a fee meal.

Years ago there used to be a dive site on Bonaire that had many morays, over the years locals and divemasters started feeding them, they got bolder and bolder and associated divers with food, to the point that they got so aggresive and trained that when divers would show up at their lairs they would swim out to them, pretty soon they got to the point that when divers were nearby they would swim out to them, eventually they got so aggresive they would swim up from the bottom to any dive boat that arrived.

The marine park killed them all after it was determined they were too aggresive to allow to live. Fish don't learn to hunt, they learn to associate free handouts.

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

Mike you make a lot of sense.

 

[RTBDiver]

I know the stats of that they've established themselves through the entire east coast of the United States and the entire Caribbean in less then 10 years.

Thats with very few hunting them or little incentive to do so. We also have cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes and other critters all over that we cannot control completely but can certainly help in keeping them in check.
It's like when i read about Sanibel Island in Florida and all the problems of the "invasive" spiny tailed iguana and they do not have a way to deal with it?? Get me a couple refridgerated containers, VISA's for a handfull of guys from Flowers bay and their dogs and in no time the problem will be solved, Sure it may take a trip back now and then but they would not be out of control. and many would be able to then legally enjoy an good old fashioned mccoy without killing Roatan Iguana

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

Thats with very few hunting them or little incentive to do so. We also have cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes and other critters all over that we cannot control completely but can certainly help in keeping them in check.
It's like when i read about Sanibel Island in Florida and all the problems of the "invasive" spiny tailed iguana and they do not have a way to deal with it?? Get me a couple refridgerated containers, VISA's for a handfull of guys from Flowers bay and their dogs and in no time the problem will be solved, Sure it may take a trip back now and then but they would not be out of control. and many would be able to then legally enjoy an good old fashioned mccoy without killing Roatan Iguana

You are conveniently ignoring the fact that Lion Fish may produce a million eggs a year and in places that may be inaccessible. With your theory how many divers would you need to put in the water to eradicate the Lion Fish? BTW, Iguana have natural predators, Lion Fish don't.

 

[RTBDiver]

You are conveniently ignoring the fact that Lion Fish may produce a million eggs a year and in places that may be inaccessible. With your theory how many divers would you need to put in the water to eradicate the Lion Fish? BTW, Iguana have natural predators, Lion Fish don't.

No, It is you who seem to continue to ignore the fct that millions off eggs does not mean millions of adults You have repeatedly ignored my asking for any type of stats as percentage to make it to adulthood yet you keep posting the millions of eggs thing. , And you also seem to ignore I have NEVER suggested they could be erradicated, only controlled in certain areas. You also seem to forget Iguana and many other species lived in abundance even with natural predators, it was not until man started hunting them that they had a problem so please spend more time answering what has already been asked rather than pointing out what you have already ignored

 

[Doc]

..... Iguana have natural predators, Lion Fish don't.

Really?
:doctor:Let me write that down.

 

[Zeagle Eagle]

No, It is you who seem to continue to ignore the fct that millions off eggs does not mean millions of adults You have repeatedly ignored my asking for any type of stats as percentage to make it to adulthood yet you keep posting the millions of eggs thing. , And you also seem to ignore I have NEVER suggested they could be erradicated, only controlled in certain areas. You also seem to forget Iguana and many other species lived in abundance even with natural predators, it was not until man started hunting them that they had a problem so please spend more time answering what has already been asked rather than pointing out what you have already ignored

Okay, let's take this one at a time:
1. I never posted that millions of eggs mean millions of adults. I made the point that Lion Fish are incredibly prolific breeders.
2. The point of this thread is Lion Fish not Iguana. Lion Fish coexist in the South Pacific because there is a natural balance of predators;where as, in the Caribbean there is not, hence their astounding and ever increasing numbers.
3.You said, " spend more time answering what has already been asked rather than pointing out what you have already ignored". I respectfully suggest that you do your own research and not demand me to do it for you. You may gain a better understanding of the problem. There is nothing to prevent you from figuring out what the survival rate of Lion Fish eggs in the Caribbean is.

With that being said, I would prefer to stick to the discussion and not venture into politics, iguanas, mosquitoes, global warming, mankind trashing the planet, at least on this thread. I certainly don't want to get into a pissin' contest with you. You seem to be taking this more personally with each post. I do not care to take it in that direction. If you can discuss this rationally, logically and without finger pointing then perhaps we both might learn something. If not, then perhaps we should ignore each others posts for awhile, sort of a "time out".

 

[Mike]

I'm not sure what point is trying to be made here. If it's that commercial fishing will rid a dive site of all lion fish, that's simply not ever going to happen. There are about 20 different reasons why.

I'll just give you one example that demonstrates the error in that thinking. Pointing back to Cozumel, the reefs are better culled then just about anywhere. Divemasters cull the reefs on every dive. They don't discriminate between sizes since they don't care about eating them, only in killing them. Some of these reefs will see 30-40 or more dive masters a day and yet another lionfish will be found and another and another. They obviously migrate into areas from surrounding areas and of course every depth beyond about 130 feet is no doubt teeming with them and they simply endlessly keep migrating up and into the culled zones.

I have no idea why anyone is focusing on the eggs. The problem is less then 1% of the water around any island and dive site is within rec limits, you can cull that 1% area all you want, be it divemasters or locals seeking table food, but the rest of the 99% of the area is still producing lionfish in unmolested numbers, providing an endless supply of replacements.

 

[Mark Derail]

I ate lionfish while in Grand Cayman. DELICIOUS !!!

 

[Doc]

You didn't eat enough of them.