Lion fish hunting

[100days-a-year]

Consider this.
I hunt commercially.Lionfish are profitable.My hunting lions reduces their effect locally on areas guaranteed to be populated with demersal fish I would normally be targeting there.A two for one effect,less pressure on local stocks and fewer lions.Similarly,recreational pressure is reduced although this may be somewhat offset by introducing more divers to spearfishing.I don't see a downside altho I have philosophical reasons for not killing ANYTHING not to be eaten,worn or in direct danger of doing so to me.

Divers screwing up reefs is a separate issue and no class is more guilty than new divers and photographers.

As far as releasing some inner cave man,it's none of my business WHY people dive.I assume good motives so I find them often.When I look for the negative that's all I see.

 

[Rhone Man]

Once again I agree. I have heard that the numbers of lionfish below rec. depth limits are so high that divers killing any of them makes little or no difference in the overall picture-- not that I have any issues with them doing so.

And even within rec diving limits, dive sites which people patrol for lionfish represent less than 1% of the coastal environment. Even in Cayman.

 

[100days-a-year]

The trick will be to keep the lions thinned out where we know there are fry from troubled or desirable species.We have them off Jax from 80' on out to deep water.I dive an area 40 nm E_W and 350 nm N_S.If every diver in the area dove every day we would not cover every spot they could conceivably be on.I cannot recall a dive in the last few years without a lionfish and in a few cases hundreds of adults on a small piece.

 

[maniago]

The trick will be to keep the lions thinned out where we know there are fry from troubled or desirable species.

Actually the trick is getting our Altantic species eating their egg sacks which float on top of the water - thats the unusual part about lionfish, and our fishies don't eat on the top like the Pacific predators. Once they get the hang of that, then they'll fall in line as part of the natural environment.

Until then, its a human made problem for humans to fix. Seriously, what American doesn't like a problem that you can eat yourself to the solution?

 

[acteg]

If you are not used to spearing them, then I would be very careful your first few times handling them otherwise you may get stung. You're going to be excited after you spear your first one, you won't be sure exactly what to do next or have a routine down yet. If you plan on cutting off the tines then putting them on a stringer, how good is your buoyancy? Also, don't think that gloves will protect you. Unless you have puncture resistant gloves that will stop a needle, you will get stuck.

I'm not hunting them in volume like 100days-ayear but I spear them with a small 36" polespear. Only ever had one get off the spear, and that was mostly my fault. As soon as I have it speared, I cut off the top tines with trauma shears, then the pectoral fin tines, and then put my scissors away. Next I take a small spike and brain the fish, put the spike away, then on to the stringer. The whole process takes a couple of minutes. While some will go still and let you perform surgery on them, some will still wiggle, so don't let that surprise or scare you if/when it happens. You don't want to flinch and accidentally get poked.

All that being said, I have been stung. Once the venom kicked in, it felt like someone smashed my finger with a hammer, there was a burning sensation, swelling, and the adjacent finger went partially numb as well. It really wasn't that painful, but there was a lingering numbness in my finger that lasted for almost a month. Otherwise, I was back to normal in a day or two, with the pain only lasting a couple of hours. If you do get stung, hot water will help.

Here is a video that shows how I go about it... if I was shooting them in volume, I would use a bag or big ass stringer, and not bother with the tines. The lionfish part is around the 1:40 minute mark. I get another one towards the end of the video, but used my speargun on it. It was nearly 17", so I shot with my gun first, then use the paralyzer tip of my polespear to get control of it and trim the tines. You can also check out 100days-a-year on youtube. He has a video where he is stacking lionfish like cordwood.

[video=youtube;B37fo2GmBvM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37fo2GmBvM&list=UUjuQmEQ9YvzRkG1pweqjnvA[/video]

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

WOW! That's a sweet catch! My biggest is "only" 15.5"! 17" is pretty close to the record!

 

[100days-a-year]

Careful when you hand this up,not the recommended manner of getting 35 pounds.Stings are variable they range from "Phew,it didn't inject"to"Oww" for 2 hours with hot water on it.

 

[acteg]

I hear they can get up to 30".. would be crazy to see that. The one I shot looked like a basketball in the water.

WOW! That's a sweet catch! My biggest is "only" 15.5"! 17" is pretty close to the record!