Lionfish - what dive shops will let you hunt?

[Dave Dillehay]

AS best I know spearfishing on scuba of an fish in Mexico is not allowed with a "spear" that holds anywhere but seldom enforced. But the bane of lion fisf is…the Hawaian sling is not considered a "spear". I have seen most DMs in the park with slings, and every now and then a customer. I believe that the Park is not too concerned as long as the good work continues and abuse is not prevalent. Truly the policy of 'no spears in the Park' was a well intentioned rule to prevent taking of native species. That has worked well and even now in the presence of thousands of spear holders, is still working well as to native species.

Has anyone, seen anyone, DM or other., take any specie except lion fish? I doubt it.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

PS Since the big ones have gone deeper in the park, maybe we could convince the Park Staff to allow commercial hunts at depth for interested divers. It could be a that few minutes at 120 feet could make a lot of cevechi

Bienvenidos - Aldora Divers | Only the best of Cozumel




I have not seen any abuse, unless you consider leaving dead lion fish for the biosphere

 

[Prop Joe]

Pretty slim pickins up north. We saw the most on Tuesday when we dropped in at Caterall. Barracuda had a few, so did San Juan yesterday. Sallye's Ceviche was great. She is good at finding the bigger ones. Packing to go home now....

 

[cnherrick]

...maybe we could convince the Park Staff to allow commercial hunts at depth for interested divers. It could be a that few minutes at 120 feet ...

I hope the Dive Ops on Coz can get this organized. Make it informal, take only divers you know and trust, give all of us a chance to work for the good of Mexico and the Reef.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

OK, I'll plan on a frequent hunt trip up north, way up north, maybe with a daily schedule. But how do we know who is a capable diver outside of our own divers? Open to suggestions?

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers
Bienvenidos - Aldora Divers | Only the best of Cozumel

 

[gopbroek]

OK, I'll plan on a frequent hunt trip up north, way up north, maybe with a daily schedule. But how do we know who is a capable diver outside of our own divers? Open to suggestions?

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers
Bienvenidos - Aldora Divers | Only the best of Cozumel

And that really is the legitimate question. I haven't dove 'way up North' but my dives on Barracuda have been kinda nerve racking. Even with an experienced group when you start hunting, going into cuts and varying depths the current scatters the group.I would expect less current past the North plane of the island but you would be away from any other boats for mutual support.
Often the hunters will split from each other as they hunt, in any drift dive with current, its natural. This means that despite the best intentions often a Pez Leon hunter will become a Solo diver, trained and equipped for it or not.
Without the group being familiar and comfortable with each other and having the demostrated necessary skills level necessary I think it would be very difficult to schedule Pez Leon hunts in a remote location.

 

[newgentry]

As it stands the stocks of Lion Fish in the park have plummeted in the last couple years, a good friend was only able to get 9 kills in a 2 tank dive last week. They are there but avoiding the apex predator, divers. Outside the park they are hunted by very capable fisherman with slings.
Last year I read a quote that the Pez Leon population in Cozumel was 1/3 of the average of other areas of the Carib, I personnely think it less than half that now: I am proud of the couple hundred I killed last year (especially the POS that stung me), I would like to see any recent reef survey data posted to this thread or another SB thread.

Agree with this, we just got back on Friday night from a one week trip to Cozumel doing at least 3 dives a day, every day, and we covered darn near the whole side of the island, from Maracaibo to the south all the way up to Villa Blanca. We saw probably 15-20 lionfish the whole week, I will neither confirm nor deny spearing any . A few years ago, we were seeing that many on one dive.

 

[Christi]

Is it exclusively the DMs doing this for better tips or is management in some OP's telling their DMs to allow customers to shoot in the park? Or a bit of both?

I would say probably a little of both MMM - and some customers who don't seem to think they are tourists because they spend so much time here and they are buddies with the shops owner so the rules don't apply to them - but the fact is that they are NOT authorized to be hunting/spearing in the park.

The other problem we are starting to have is aggression with the Morays and nurse sharks because these same people that are not authorized to be spearing are feeding the dead lionfish to the marine life - which is another thing the marine park prohibits. They are technically supposed to be bagged and brought up - alternatively, they can be left where they were killed - but feeding them to the marine life is conditioning them and creating some issues.

 

[Skittl1321]

I think there are a number of people who are authorized to be hunting who are still breaking the rule by then feeding...so it's not just the tourists doing that.

I was not real happy about the overly friendly nurse shark who came looking for a handout... I think a moray would be even creepier!

 

[macado]

I would say probably a little of both MMM - and some customers who don't seem to think they are tourists because they spend so much time here and they are buddies with the shops owner so the rules don't apply to them - but the fact is that they are NOT authorized to be hunting/spearing in the park.

The other problem we are starting to have is aggression with the Morays and nurse sharks because these same people that are not authorized to be spearing are feeding the dead lionfish to the marine life - which is another thing the marine park prohibits. They are technically supposed to be bagged and brought up - alternatively, they can be left where they were killed - but feeding them to the marine life is conditioning them and creating some issues.

I know this is going to come back to haunt me but I feel I should address it anyway since I'm willing to believe it's partially directed towards myself and other frequent visitors to the island who hunt lionfish. As I have stated before, I'm not here to get into a moral/legality argument regarding the hunting of lionfish and I'm not the SCUBA police.

I am not "buddies" with any of the dive shop owners; I am friends with several dive shop employees/DMs and dive with several different operators on the island however It's no secret to anyone reading my past threads who I primarily dive with.

I do NOT feed lionfish to Morays or Nurse Sharks. I don't believe in this practice; In the past I turned a blind eye to it but I'm also concerned about how 'overly friendly' and aggressive the nurse sharks have gotten. I take lionfish primarily for consumption. Those I don't take I leave scattered on the reef, cut up or inside an anemone.

Having said that, I have witnessed it, video taped people doing it, and have been forced to give up my catch to an aggressive nurse shark and the people that I know that have fed them past NO LONGER do it. I can only speak for myself and other people I know personally. It's certainly not a new problem, at least I have witnessed it and video taped people doing it since 2010..

I have witnessed multiple dive operators doing it which whom have been trained by the park and should know the regulations. Certainly there are DMs doing it for extra tips and clients doing it for 'excitement' or whatever you want to call it but let's not pretend it's certain people with specific dive shops; It's unfortunately a wide spread problem.

 

[cnherrick]

...feeding the dead lionfish to the marine life - which is another thing the marine park prohibits. ...

Christi and all, here's my idea - make it a Certification. PADI, NAUI, TDI, GUE can all get on board. Create a course, create a test, include all the goody information ... teach us all how to be good, helpful SCUBA citizen-hunters of Lionfish. Course to include info about what devices are legal, how to handle, intro to Lionfish trap/containers, etc. Include gr8 recipes for Lionfish Ceviche!!!

how do we know who is a capable diver outside of our own divers?

1. Take the folks who have acquired the Lionfish Hunter Certification.
2. Make other certifications pre-requisites.
3. Finally, if you don't know the diver don't take the diver. Specifically, require that I (Lionfish Hunter Wannabe) dive with your dive operation on at least one 2-tank day of diving first. Then you count on the recommendations of your dive masters ("hey, that Chuck sure can dive. Take him Lionfish hunting!!").

That point #3 is pretty much the quid pro quo for taking a new-to-you diver out to the Devil's Throat, right? Do the same for Lionfish Hunter.

We need SCUBA hand signals and a secret hand shake! And maybe some stickers for our AL80 tanks
(Lionfish Sticker Sheet 25 Ct Scuba Diving Decals New Spearfishing Reef Snorkel | eBay)