To kill or not to kill lionfish in the Caribbean and Florida?

[Carlos Danger]

I'd like to open a new topic on whether or not lionfish in the Caribbean and Florida should be killed by scuba divers?

For those of you that are not aware, lionfish were introduced into the waters around the Caribbean and Florida by accident. So they are not indigenous to the area. This means that they are breeding and growing in numbers at an alarming rate.

The rate of increase is being limited by divers and enthusiasts killing them. I myself have killed them on my trips to Barbados and Antigua.

However, killing creatures never comes easy to me. I justify it by the fact that they are 'destroying' local fauna in a way that indigenous creatures are not prepared for or have grown or evolved to deal with. Plus the lionfish we killed we sent to local restaurants.

As an aside, if you've not eaten lionfish, they are very tasty indeed! Probably one of the best fish that I've eaten.

The other problem this does cause is with regard to shark interaction. When I was in Antigua last October, one of the dive group speared a lionfish and within a short space of time we were joined by a reef shark. This shark was intent on eating the speared fish, which it did in the end and took it off the end of the spear.

An exhilarating experience to witness as I was right next to where this took place so the shark came within a few feet of us. But is this good or bad for divers? Possibly if you're not too keen on shark interaction not good. Not sure how this interaction would have gone if that shark was a tiger shark! Which I know are in places like Antigua.

Thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

I too had similar feelings about killing creatures, just as a general rule. Initially I only played the part of accomplice; pointing them out to those armed with appropriate equipment and level of proficiency in not getting zapped. This seemed like and acceptable position given the environmental impacts they are having. Eventually I actually gave the killing part a try, and now have my own Hawaiian Sling. While I am still torn on the killing part, I do take a certain amount of pride in the challenge of executing the deed in a clean and efficient manner. That said, I am still not to the point where I want anything to do with clipping off the spines and or stringing them up. Seem like just about everyone I know who does gets harpooned sooner or later, so prefer to leave that part to the pros.

 

[АлександрД]

 

[arew+4]

Looks like the Walmart map, only faster

 

[Russell Bowyer]

Some great points made here. The point about not damaging the reef is a good one and making sure you know what you are doing with a spear gun is also important too. The vote so far is pretty conclusive from those that have voted and reading this makes me feel better about my contribution to the whole killing of lion fish.

I will admit that when I first wrote an article about this on my blog, I was hesitant about admitting to killing lionfish. I guess this was out of fear of what others think about this whole subject. However, so far there's an overwhelming agreement to what the solution is.

 

[Russell Bowyer]

Wow this puts it into perspective, thank you for sharing this map

 

[kelemvor]

barbless, multi-prong tips are available that are quite effective on lionfish

That's something interesting that I hadn't thought of. I think I might take a dremel to my lionfish spear.

 

[Russell Bowyer]

Hello Kelemvor - can I ask what a dremel is please

 

[Kharon]

Just something to think about for all you "I couldn't kill", "it's not right to kill", "thou shalt not kill" people. I guess you must all eat synthetic food. Otherwise your lives depend on killing - either animals or plants. Do you wear any leather, have any wood in your house?

Even if everything you use is synthetic, guess what? The synthesis has deadly consequences for living things. Mendacious if you ask me, which of course no one did. Just my 2 cents.

 

[SNS-Mike]

Hello Kelemvor - can I ask what a dremel is please

Here you go... https://www.dremel.com/en_US.

 

[Bogtrotter]

My understanding is that not only are they voracious and wiping out small and juvenile fish but also contribute to coral destruction by dramatically reducing important herbaceous fish which corals rely on to control algae. Spearing and deep water trapping seems to be important in mitigating their destructive effect on reefs until a more effective means of control is found.

An interesting study here suggests that sound production by lionfish might be helpful in monitoring and perhaps ultimately controlling populations. Also agree getting larger predatory fish like grouper and sharks to start identifying them as prey items is part of the long term solution in achieving balance. I'm not sure how you do that without actually feeding them to the larger fish...perhaps leaving some speared lionfish on the reefs while also culling others for people food..?