Lionfish... threat, menace, or just something new to amuse you while diving ?

[CODMAN]

to improve the ratio of successes in biological control, while retaining the excellent safety record of this approach to pest control.”

I can't disagree enough with this statement. The are sucess stories... but there are many many failures/ disasters. We really don't understand ecological interactions enough to be able to fully determine how predators will react (what they will feed on) when released in the new ecosystem. I find those numbers a bit hard to belive, although I have not read the studies myself...

Just my 0.02$

 

[CODMAN]

Wow, all that work for 6 lionfish...

As you said Netdoc, if you created a market for them by saying it was an aphrodisiac, they would probably overharvest the pacific population rather than come take care of the caribean problem...

Just a thought here after seing the video... If people really wanted to be more efficient at spearing these guys, it would probably be more profitable to have a spearhead that slices more without staying stuck in the fish. The objective being to give the fish a mortal wound with one shot then leave it behind for predators/ scavengers... easier, faster, no need to carry them... It would leave the "nutrients" on the reefs rather than take them out of the system... Only downside is it's not very humane to the fish...

ust food for thought!

There's at least that much thought in this thread, and a lot more insight.

• There are not enough humans hunting them over a broad enough area for us to make an impact.
• Feeding "pieces" of lionfish may only teach the fish to look for a handout from us.
• The best solution so far is to label them better than Viagra and let commerce take it's toll. They only problem with that is that this would affect Pacific populations even more.

So, we have no solution to this problem yet. I have to admit that it's fun to try to be a part of the solution!

The Liontamer​

 

[WonderlustOji]

Way to close to those fishies for me. I prefer my trident sling with paralyzer tips.

Question: What is the best way to coup de grace a speared lionfish as it squirms on the spear? I don't like having him suffer for a few minutes while he is scraped off against a rock. That also ruins the meat if we want to remove and cook him for dinner. Any suggestions?

 

[mermoose]

If anyone is interested, there is a REEF lionfish expedition in May on the Sundancer II (Dancer Fleet)out of Belize. The diving is great and the education/information is real and useful. I have been on three such trips with Lad Akins, a director with REEF. The Lionfish invasion has been at the top of his to study list for several years. Perhaps one of you moderators could get some info from Lad to post here.He could easily be reached via email at REEF. They are very good to eat and a very real threat. There might not be enough of us to hunt the population down to manageable proportions, but we should do what we can. When you learn the reproduction rate and see what and how many juveniles come out of their guts it should get your attention for real. It certainly did mine.For example in 2008 we found no lionfish, 2009 same sites we found 104, removed 64 of those.And every trip I have been on I have learned new things from the ongoing study. I hope tons of divers learn the truth about Lionfish and share it with everyone we can. If you love the Caribbean like I do, please take the time to learn and share. It will take a terrible toll on the marine life we all love if we don't make some kind of attempt to correct the situation.

 

[mermoose]

By the way I love the video. Especially the soundtrack.