I'm assuming that lionfish larvae/juveniles are pelagic, and that's how they are spreading so fast and so far, because the adults seem like real homebodies? So, yes, it is an international problem, but their nature to hang out at the same place perhaps explains why some locations seem more inundated with lionfish than others.
Completely anecdotal, of course, but I am one of those who can report seeing far fewer lionfish in the Pacific (Palau) than I have in the Caribbean, particularly Bonaire. In Palau, the DM still points the lionfish out--as a specimen fish. In Bonaire--oh, my word--they are everywhere. They used to ask divers to report sightings and put up a marker to help the rangers/dms find them and kill them. Then they decided there were too many markers on the reef, so stopped that practice. (WTH?) I have to say that I did see far fewer in Cozumel, but have no way to prove that this is because of diligence or just luck.
I like the (upthread) poster's idea of some sort of contraption that snips off the spines of the lionfish or somehow disables it so that predators can finish it off and (hopefully) get some ideas of their own--like eating the very young. I thought I had read somewhere that groupers have been found with juvenile lionfish in their guts--but not sure how they prove that. (ewww....)
Is the practice of killing lionfish and just leaving them around for whatever to pick up and eat, not also teaching fish to follow divers, expecting an easy meal? Has to be better than actually feeding them, though.
Obviously, lionfish will never be commercially viable as an eating fish--I guess it also doesn't provde the necessary excitement as a sporting fish for spearfishers?
Completely anecdotal, of course, but I am one of those who can report seeing far fewer lionfish in the Pacific (Palau) than I have in the Caribbean, particularly Bonaire. In Palau, the DM still points the lionfish out--as a specimen fish. In Bonaire--oh, my word--they are everywhere. They used to ask divers to report sightings and put up a marker to help the rangers/dms find them and kill them. Then they decided there were too many markers on the reef, so stopped that practice. (WTH?) I have to say that I did see far fewer in Cozumel, but have no way to prove that this is because of diligence or just luck.
I like the (upthread) poster's idea of some sort of contraption that snips off the spines of the lionfish or somehow disables it so that predators can finish it off and (hopefully) get some ideas of their own--like eating the very young. I thought I had read somewhere that groupers have been found with juvenile lionfish in their guts--but not sure how they prove that. (ewww....)
Is the practice of killing lionfish and just leaving them around for whatever to pick up and eat, not also teaching fish to follow divers, expecting an easy meal? Has to be better than actually feeding them, though.
Obviously, lionfish will never be commercially viable as an eating fish--I guess it also doesn't provde the necessary excitement as a sporting fish for spearfishers?