New policy on lionfish in the park

[BTravlin]

Saw this today in Cozumel 4 You Newsletter today..

'ELF Tool, Sand Dollar Sports, Senor Frogs and many of Cozumel’s dive and snorkeling operators will be hosting a party to collect funds for the Cozumel’s Marine Park purchase of the ”Eliminate Lion Fish” Tool. The party take place on the 12th of March at 9:00pm at Senor Frogs and will be a 50 pesos voluntary donation.
These ELF Tools will be the only authorized hunting tool by the marine park to be used inside the park. All ELF tools will be property of the Cozumel Marine Park and they will hand out the tools to authorized Dive Professional Hunters who will be invited to take the PADI lion fish hunter specialty course where they will learn about the problem, the qualities of the tool, the safe extraction and the reporting method. There are a lot of reasons to come down on the 12th to Senor Frogs to meet the leaders in the fight against the lion fish, from understanding the point of view of our specialists or simply to enjoying a beer with the gang.
The Lion Fish Problem is upon us and we need to put our differences aside and collaborate as whole in order to eliminate this issue that affects us all. If we do not act swiftly, jointly and effectively we will be lamenting the loss of our underwater ecosystem in a very short time. It is time to act and the first step is up the stairs to Senor Frogs to join us on the 12th of March at 9:00pm!"


Cozumel 4 You - 03.10.2011

Anybody hear anything about this? Looks as if the ELF makers have swung a great deal. And PADI has another specialty course to offer.

 

[drrich2]

A couple of things bother me here. One, they only hand the Elfs out to 'dive professionals.' This, of course, is debatable policy; doubtless some folks are concerned the 'lay' divers would abuse the things to kill other animals. Then again, they'd kill a lot of lionfish. Two, they will NOT 'eliminate' the problem. Mitigate, reduce, provide ongoing damage control, yes, but not 'eliminate.' It's like handing everyone a fly swatter with intent to wipe out roaches!

That said, I hope they nail a whole lot of them.

Richard.

 

[Brules]

At $205 a kit, they better work lol.....

 

[firstdive2005]

This is a load of crap, it's program is not only putting money in hands that could care less about the lionfish but is taking more money away from the dive masters. This is a propaganda machine at work. Stop those that are getting them cause we arent making a buck! Crap. Lion fish killer-card, what a load. We killed 45 today.
I had La Hach cook some up for my wife and I. I didnt hit one thing that was alive (other than lionfish). Neither did the other divers with me. When they where sitting in the barrel sponge we chase them out and hit them as they crest the top. Simple, if your a quick enough shot.
There are a lot of very angry dms right now.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

I completely agree.. If this is true, it is absolute lionfish****..

The "ELF" is a joke, "IMO".. What a friggen RIPOFF.. DM's were effectively killing lionfish in the marine park for quite some time with everything from branded trident tipped Hawaiian style spears to home-made PVC pipe spears with piano wire tips.. And everything in-between.

The goal here should be to eliminate as many lionfish as possible.. NOT sanction one specific device to do it.. One over-priced 'device'..

 

[theduckguru]

One can do their own math. The size of the area, the duration of a dive, the rate of reproduction of fish and the number of participant DMs = little measurable effect of lion fish density.
I doubt requiring every diver to hunt lion fish on every dive would do much.

$205 for an ElLF constructed of $10 in materials is BS.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

One can do their own math. The size of the area, the duration of a dive, the rate of reproduction of fish and the number of participant DMs = little measurable effect of lion fish density.
I doubt requiring every diver to hunt lion fish on every dive would do much.
.

I understand the math but I have also seen the results.. There were certain areas within the marine park that you would rarely see a lionfish after the DM's were actively hunting them. If you were to travel a number of miles north outside the marine park where there was little pressure, you would see lionfish aplenty.

While there is no eliminating them.. I do believe, with a concerted effort, they can be controlled and limited, especially in the marine park.

As for the long term.. That all depends on how far 'man' is willing to go.. And the powers that be..

 

[vladimir]

It is interesting to me that we wring our hands in despair (with good reason) at the futility of preventing the deliberate depletion of [pick one: many shark species, bluefish tuna, cod, sea bass, etc], yet when it comes to deliberately depleting a reef of lionfish, we again wring our hands in despair. We are apparently helpless to prevent the depletion of a fish species, and helpless to cause the depletion of a fish species. I can think of some reasons why it may be true in both cases; nevertheless it is a bit paradoxical.

 

[spyder]

"Training is required for anyone using or owning an ELF"

Huh? So $205 for the "tool" and another $180 to get trained? Sounds like "carbon credits".....

 

[Zman96]

This is total B.S. we were just talking about this last night. The hunting of the Lionfish here I think is making a difference. The numbers if have seen here the last 10 days have been way down. A few dives which have been 70 plus minutes we haven't seen 1. To roadblock this success I think is short sighted in the guides of making a buck.