Mike
Contributor
Not trying to argue with you, but you're intentions are good, but you're mixing up 2 different problems.
Most of what you're saying is based on assumptions about the how and why of a situation in Indo Pacific without any real scientific evidence. Nobody really knows exactly why lionfish are not a problem there. It's not a problem so nobody has spent any time figuring it out. Assumptions are that other fish are eating the lionfish and keeping them in check. There isn't really any evidence to support this, it sounds logical but that doesn't make it true. It could have to do with something totally different, water temperatures, genetics, egg producing patterns, currents, water depth... the reasons could be simple or complicated, but morays and groupers are eating them all is an assumption.
No not really, there is a control process that is working in the marine park and it doesn't have anything to do with feeding lionfish to marine life. It's the culling of lionfish by dedicated dive masters on most dives.
As has been said, every country in the Caribbean has an attitude of they are the first ones to deal with the problem. Each has separately determined their own solutions as if they are operating in a vacuum. For political or economic or their own reasons they ignore most of what other countries have been doing and seem to want to reinvent the wheel through trial and error.
[/QUOTE]If you consider Cozumel's way of control... every DM is trained on how to kill them and encouraged to do so. If dive sites like Palancar Gardens see a dozen dive groups a day minimum, then there are a dozen DMs looking for lionfish there, and killing them. Ditto every other reef. Some reefs don't see as many divers, but the regular lionfish derby boats seem to hit those hard and are successful.
robin[/QUOTE]
Yes, the dive master program in the marine park is culling the lionfish on the dive sites at recreational depths and doing a good job, however that doesn't mean that it should be combined with a misguided method of hand feeding lionfish to marine life to teach them to eat them on their own.
Really, don't want to beat a dead horse but when you get a chance, just spend some time reading about the problem, there have been plenty of studies over the years and lots of real world reports of what fish feeding does. You're probably just not aware of the real nasty ramifications of it. A lot of it has been hinted at on these threads but there is plenty of information out there to alert anyone who wants to know how bad an idea it is. And then secondly there is also lots of information about how this handfeeding doesn't work, has not shown any positive results. Consider that lionfish have been marching north up the east coast and south into the gulf and the Caribbean for about 10 years now. The Bahamas were the first places to be forced to deal with them, there is plenty of legacy information about what has been tried over the last 10 years and the results. We still don't have a really good grasp of lionfish and what they are all about, but over the last 10 years there has been some forward momentum. If you spend some time learning about this problem you'll discover the test reefs being monitored, and about a dozen different theories being considered in regard to how to deal with them. There is even the theory that leaving them alone is the answer, and test reefs being monitored to discover if that's really the solution. Lots of interesting information out there, and hopefully if you spend the time looking into it you'll realize that dive masters feeding lionfish to marine life is not even in the ball park of the answer to the problem. It's a great show and dive masters love to do it for the tips it generates from excited photographers who get some exciting footage.
Most of what you're saying is based on assumptions about the how and why of a situation in Indo Pacific without any real scientific evidence. Nobody really knows exactly why lionfish are not a problem there. It's not a problem so nobody has spent any time figuring it out. Assumptions are that other fish are eating the lionfish and keeping them in check. There isn't really any evidence to support this, it sounds logical but that doesn't make it true. It could have to do with something totally different, water temperatures, genetics, egg producing patterns, currents, water depth... the reasons could be simple or complicated, but morays and groupers are eating them all is an assumption.
No not really, there is a control process that is working in the marine park and it doesn't have anything to do with feeding lionfish to marine life. It's the culling of lionfish by dedicated dive masters on most dives.
As has been said, every country in the Caribbean has an attitude of they are the first ones to deal with the problem. Each has separately determined their own solutions as if they are operating in a vacuum. For political or economic or their own reasons they ignore most of what other countries have been doing and seem to want to reinvent the wheel through trial and error.
[/QUOTE]If you consider Cozumel's way of control... every DM is trained on how to kill them and encouraged to do so. If dive sites like Palancar Gardens see a dozen dive groups a day minimum, then there are a dozen DMs looking for lionfish there, and killing them. Ditto every other reef. Some reefs don't see as many divers, but the regular lionfish derby boats seem to hit those hard and are successful.
robin[/QUOTE]
Yes, the dive master program in the marine park is culling the lionfish on the dive sites at recreational depths and doing a good job, however that doesn't mean that it should be combined with a misguided method of hand feeding lionfish to marine life to teach them to eat them on their own.
Really, don't want to beat a dead horse but when you get a chance, just spend some time reading about the problem, there have been plenty of studies over the years and lots of real world reports of what fish feeding does. You're probably just not aware of the real nasty ramifications of it. A lot of it has been hinted at on these threads but there is plenty of information out there to alert anyone who wants to know how bad an idea it is. And then secondly there is also lots of information about how this handfeeding doesn't work, has not shown any positive results. Consider that lionfish have been marching north up the east coast and south into the gulf and the Caribbean for about 10 years now. The Bahamas were the first places to be forced to deal with them, there is plenty of legacy information about what has been tried over the last 10 years and the results. We still don't have a really good grasp of lionfish and what they are all about, but over the last 10 years there has been some forward momentum. If you spend some time learning about this problem you'll discover the test reefs being monitored, and about a dozen different theories being considered in regard to how to deal with them. There is even the theory that leaving them alone is the answer, and test reefs being monitored to discover if that's really the solution. Lots of interesting information out there, and hopefully if you spend the time looking into it you'll realize that dive masters feeding lionfish to marine life is not even in the ball park of the answer to the problem. It's a great show and dive masters love to do it for the tips it generates from excited photographers who get some exciting footage.
