Lionfish.....unfortunately

[KRL1973]

......except on Bonaire, unless you are "deputized" by STINAPA and get an assigned ELF from them, you are not legally supposed to spear fish for anything in the Marine Park. Since I vacation dive there, I'll leave that to the locals......although it would be fun!

Except on Bonaire? Are all recreational divers permitted to spear lionfish in Bonaire now? When I was there last year I wanted to badly but was limited to placing the little cork float and calling it in.

Ken L

 

[curious2dive]

The last two weeks guided diving we saw an enormous spread of the Lion-fish. From Banda Abou to Banda Ariba on different dive spots we counted more than a hundred lion-fish per dive. If you dive the northside of the Island it's even worse.

The ELF spears to kill the Lion-fish are on the Island, but for one or another reason the government takes no action. It's simple change the law and make LION-fish hunting legal. Register the rangers and start the haunt. If you want to fight the plague, you have to act. Inform the tourists and the divers why you're doing it.
But of course our reefs are no marinepark so who cares! I voluteered to be a ranger, but with no law change I won't spear them, because spearfishing is forbidden.

We have groups going out on a popular Lion-fish hunt, but if you see the selfmade spears, they hurt the reefs more than the Lion-fish.