They are spearing them

[SailNaked]

illegal to spear? how about net? or maybe a bottle of fresh water in a squirt gun?
A V shaped stick and hold them down and sing barry manalow to it?
a noose out of fishing line, and keep them as seeing eye lion fish?
I know... we teach them to eat oil and send them to the gulf?

Edit: oh ya, I love the idea above.

 

[jcroy66]

I think I would shy away from the lionfish masher. I don't want my hands anywhere near an angry lion.

 

[ronski101]

Lion fish don't get angry they just get even......

 

[MagnaBoxer]

Just found out that on Roatan they are spearing the lionfish to control their numbers. Apparently there is a contest going on between the dive shops. Don't know if there is any training going on before they are turned lose but I suspect it is limited to divemasters. Apparently the score is in the hundreds so far. This sure beats the heck out of the politically correct method of coaxing them into a net thing going on in Bonaire.

Actually when we there in March, Robert, who runs the dive shop at FI, was encouraging everyone during the orientation meeting, to kill any lion fish we saw. There were only a couple of us on our boat who were interested in attempting it.

Out of the many that I tried to stab with my knife I can confirm only one kill however. Funny, you can put the tip of your knife right on them and they hardly move, but once you go for the death stroke they are gone fast as lightening.

We saw them on nearly every dive and it's a shame that more of them couldn't have been taken care of. Oh what I would have given for even a cheap pole spear that week. If I'd known it was allowed I definitely would have had something other than my knife when I went.

Will be on Bonaire in July. What are the numbers of lion fish being seen there? One per dive? Every few dives?

 

[gert7to3]

Lionfish kind of stand their ground, putting out their fins in a threat display. Our DM made several attempts to catch one with a plastic bag. The little beastie finally figured out we were dangerous and fled under a coral head.

I'm thinking about using clear plastic salad tongs.

You wouldn't want to grab a lionfish directly, even with gloves. The gloves would have to be fairly heavy.

 

[beautybelow]

"Out of the many that I tried to stab with my knife I can confirm only one kill however. Funny, you can put the tip of your knife right on them and they hardly move, but once you go for the death stroke they are gone fast as lightening"

"The little beastie finally figured out we were dangerous and fled under a coral head."

From what I understand this is the reason some people don't want just anyone trying to spear these fish. They learn quickly and the ones that are "missed" will never let another diver near them again.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

From what I understand this is the reason some people don't want just anyone trying to spear these fish. They learn quickly and the ones that are "missed" will never let another diver near them again.

You are correct.. It is quite apparent when approaching them which ones have been shot at before (and missed) and the ones that have never been harassed by a diver. The former will move to cover as it sees you coming, while the latter will sit there while you kill all his buddies (if in a group) and then him. On one of my last shore dives (Cozumel) I took out well over 20 even while approaching them with my DPV. Right as I was cutting back in from the wall, I spied a HUGE one.. I swam toward him and as I approached he retreated into a small grotto, which I couldn't get into. That's just one of the many times this has happened with lionfish of all sizes.

As far as the misconception some have that lionfish are slow.. They are actually VERY fast when they want to move.

I think it is unfortunate the Bonaire government does not allow spearing them at this time. It won't be long until they are infesting the reefs and the only way to beat them back is going to have a lot of (trained / experienced) divers spearing them.

 

[sharkbait69]

Just got back from bonaire on saturday. The group i was with collectively killed 29 lionfish with a spear pole, given to us by the dive shop. The DM did have a bag to catch them with, but he obviously didn't need it.

 

[Deac in the Wake]

You're deluding yourself if you think lionfish aren't being speared on Bonaire. I heard one group got over 40 of the little SOBs last week. DMs know these things are threatening the one thing that keeps Bonaire alive and in business: diving. Lionfish are very beautiful creatures and I hate that they must be culled but I have zero problem spearing the little bastards. I shudder to think what our favorite dive places would look like if they began to get to the 2 and 3 feet specimens which have been spotted and bagged around the Bahamas. An excellent point was made in last month's issue of Dive Training: imagine what they're doing in the locations where divers don't go. It may well be the unseen disaster.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

I'm heading there this Saturday and will take an expandable spear just in case.