Randy Jordan found WWII era airplane wreck off Jupiter

[dumpsterDiver]

Yeah the lionfish seem to be more common there than anywhere else I have seen locally. I would not take them commercially until they are very common in shallower water. It is interesting, in 60-90 feet on reefs and wrecks that are dove often, the lionfish can be VERY skittish...I assume they have been heavily hunted by divers. The lionfish, on the plane, are unconcerned with proximity to divers. The reservoir of deepwater fish is very disappointing.

 

[tekkydiver]

Here's what the FWC has to say... from there web site.

What licenses are needed to harvest lionfish?

• Recreational divers and anglers need to have a recreational fishing license to take lionfish.
• There are no size or bag limits up to a total catch weight of 100 lbs.
• The sale or commercial (over 100 lbs.) harvest of lionfish requires a saltwater products license.
• A permit is required to harvest lionfish in the no-take zones of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Permits are issued by the Sanctuary following training given by the Sanctuary and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF).

Could I walk in to a reputable restaurant with a cooler of Lionfish and make a sale. Doubtful. I can only imagine the liability to the restaurant, even if they knew you well.

 

[Splitlip]

I am kind of surprised. Not debating it, as I saw reference to a ticket before for lion fish. Odd to me as it is an invasive species. We don't need a veg removal permit to clear Brazilian Peppers. I suspect this all about revenue in the face of tax roll backs and depressed property values. I get it. My taxes have have decreased, but I have to pay more to register a vehicle.

 

[danvolker]

Here's what the FWC has to say... from there web site.

What licenses are needed to harvest lionfish?

• Recreational divers and anglers need to have a recreational fishing license to take lionfish.
• There are no size or bag limits up to a total catch weight of 100 lbs.
• The sale or commercial (over 100 lbs.) harvest of lionfish requires a saltwater products license.
• A permit is required to harvest lionfish in the no-take zones of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Permits are issued by the Sanctuary following training given by the Sanctuary and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF).

Could I walk in to a reputable restaurant with a cooler of Lionfish and make a sale. Doubtful. I can only imagine the liability to the restaurant, even if they knew you well.

But a seafood purveyor can develop this...try calling call Rodney at 954-400-9217 Bar Harbor Seafood.....Initially, I don't see it as a money maker for divers...but if the restaurants begin to order with regularity, the mechanics of you getting money for lionfish can easily be worked out, if you want this.

 

[mselenaous]

Here is another news reports:
Fish Lead Florida Diver to Rare World War II Aircraft - ABC News

 

[b-dog]

I agree with this partially....Because Sharks and the other top level predators have been wiped out by commercial fishing, the mid and low level predators exploded, and have wiped out many of the herbivores--this allowing huge algal growths on many reefs...this killing the reef corals, and ultimate destroying the entire reef habitat.

The Lionfish are assisting in the balancing of many of the species that overpopulated due to no higher predators remaining---but are not discriminating enough to be entirely a useful solution short term..Moreover, because there is still very little predation on Lionfish ( only a tiny bit by Jewfish or sharks), they SHOULD NOT BE just left alone --they would overpopulate without any balance potential, and would then eat all the fish, not just the over-populated low and mid level predators in juvenile form.

Where we see as many Lionfish as the plane, I think "harvesting commerically" would be good for the balance, and also take some pressure off of spearfisherman shooting hogsnappers for the big bucks...the restaurants will likely pay as much per pound for Lionfish as for hogfish. I would rather see 6 more of the hogfish like DD shot ( as I may have and 1/4 of the Lionfish left to swim around....

As to the sustainability of the Lionfish, on the Race to the Bottom of the Sea project I was on 2 weeks ago, a sub driver for one of the Triton subs was at around 900 feet by some reef, and said it was covered in Lionfish!!! In other words, there will always be a "re-charge zone" for Lionfish, even if they become commercially viable....No one will be buying 20 million dollar subs to go 1000 feet down with to shoot a dozen lion fish with each dive

I agree with hunting lionfish if you are going to eat them instead of native snappers and groupers because we need to protect what is native to the Caribbean. But if people are just going to kill lionfish for the sake of killing them then I think that it is better to just leave them alone because they are part of the food chain. Even though nothing in the Caribbean seems to eat them their prey will evolve to become wary of lionfish. Those fish that survive to adulthood will pass on their genes to the next generation and relatively quickly they will adapt to the presence of the lionfish. Then a balance will be achieved.

 

[danvolker]

I agree with hunting lionfish if you are going to eat them instead of native snappers and groupers because we need to protect what is native to the Caribbean. But if people are just going to kill lionfish for the sake of killing them then I think that it is better to just leave them alone because they are part of the food chain. Even though nothing in the Caribbean seems to eat them their prey will evolve to become wary of lionfish. Those fish that survive to adulthood will pass on their genes to the next generation and relatively quickly they will adapt to the presence of the lionfish. Then a balance will be achieved.

I agree that given time, the indigenous species would adapt.....it may take 20 generations, who knows how long it will take for the correct gene expressions to effect behaviors regarding lionfish, in a manner that will offer a proper defensive / flight behavior, etc to allow species to reach reproductive maturity. Meanwhile, the explosion of Lionfish "could" cause a catastrophic reduction in many species, leading to many local extinctions for breeding purposes....So...some thinning of the Lionfish populations is likely requires, to provide the local fish time to develop the protective behaviors they will require...that fish in Fiji would already have.

In the new video on the Cuban reefs, it shows a large healthy population of all fish, including lionfish. It would be interesting to see how the lionfish is dealt with my the majority of species there, including the apex predators !! However, insufficient elapsed time has occurred in Cuba since Lionfish were introduced, for any significant evolutionary response to occur yet. Right now it would be " rapidly learned behaviors" in the fish with this potential.

 

[AlabamaExile]

That is interesting that is a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, which is not a relatively well known plane. My grandfather was a tailgunner on Helldivers and Douglas SBD Dauntlesses in WWII (he was on the USS Essex and the USS Bataan). He said that the Helldiver was notoriously difficult to fly, and that pilots said that the "SB2C" in its name stood for "son-of-a-bitch, second class"! However, the Helldiver apparently was a tough plane that could keep flying after receiving a good bit of damage.

I agree with the assessment that this plane must have made a relatively safe landing at sea, as otherwise you would expect to see much more damage than is apparent. What a cool find!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

That is interesting that is a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, which is not a relatively well known plane. My grandfather was a tailgunner on Helldivers and Douglas SBD Dauntlesses in WWII (he was on the USS Essex and the USS Bataan). He said that the Helldiver was notoriously difficult to fly, and that pilots said that the "SB2C" in its name stood for "son-of-a-bitch, second class"! However, the Helldiver apparently was a tough plane that could keep flying after receiving a good bit of damage.

I agree with the assessment that this plane must have made a relatively safe landing at sea, as otherwise you would expect to see much more damage than is apparent. What a cool find!

Not that I know anything about plane crashes, but you did notice that the engine is 35 or 40 feet from the rest of the plane? Maybe the plane walked during a hurricane leaving the heavy engine where it fell?

 

[Chugwhump]

Not that I know anything about plane crashes, but you did notice that the engine is 35 or 40 feet from the rest of the plane? Maybe the plane walked during a hurricane leaving the heavy engine where it fell?

Nice try Dumpster...
You and I both know it was Bigfoot astride Nessie cruising to Bimini to look at the ruins of Atlantis, that bumped into the wrecked plane and shifted things about.

Chug
The truth is out there,
so I will keep whacking Lion Fish until further notice.