Lionfish off Bonaire

[ae3753]

Cecil and Tailspin, really nice photos. I won't share with you my poor shots

It really is amazing how prevalent the lionfish are. The first sighting was only October 2009.

 

[Tailspin]

If the Caribbean islands where diving is a major contributor to the economy really want to protect their ecosystem, why don't they just put a bounty on lion fish? It would be much cheaper and faster than what is being done now. We saw a big one the east side near the white hole last week.

I don't know about that. The 'feeding frenzy' of newbee's with cameras is dangerous enough when one of these (or other interesting critters) is located, imagine what it would be like if they were all armed and money was involved!

 

[dvrliz1]

Ronski et al:

Believe it or not catching a lionfish is not as easy as one would think! IMHO, bounties would leave the reefs open to greater damage. These buggers tend to "hide" in nooks and crannies in coral. Coral damage is not what we want.

There are trained teams (trained by STINAPA) who go out daily to search for reported lionfish. If you don't have a marker, it is important that you note your depth, time, location, and if you have a camera, take a picture of the coral formation where the sucker is located. This is some help. It is IMPERATIVE that if you see one, you report it to your dive shop, dive master, hotel or direct to Stinapa!

Liz

 

[Korsu]

I would hate to see lots of divers in the water armed with spears etc. If they don't see a Lionfish they would just go after something else for lunch.
Can see one on almost every 50-60 ft. dive in Curacao and they have been seen on the North Coast as well. Starting to find good sized ones, almost eatable.
Two clear hand held nets work pretty well if you go slow. But then I don't have free hands for the camera!

 

[ronski101]

The reason that the lionfish are proliferating so fast is that the present method of poplitically correct gently coaxing them in a net is not often successful. Once someone tries to capture a lionfish, he is extremely wary and twice as hard to catch. Last week I saw a DM try to get one but that sucker knew how to play the game and buried himself in the reef. Let me repeat, if they are really serious about getting rid of these fish before they wipe out all of the small reef fish etc they better change tactics. Training DM's to Use a trident hand spear would be a quick simple and successful strategy. Remember, very little diving is done on the east side of the island so the lionfish are gobbling up all the small reef fish there before then can migrate over to the west side where most of the diving occurs.

 

[dvrliz1]

I would hate to see lots of divers in the water armed with spears etc. If they don't see a Lionfish they would just go after something else for lunch.
Can see one on almost every 50-60 ft. dive in Curacao and they have been seen on the North Coast as well. Starting to find good sized ones, almost eatable.
Two clear hand held nets work pretty well if you go slow. But then I don't have free hands for the camera!

OMG....every 50-60 ft dive??? Wow! Do you all have anything in place for capture? Stinapa has a great program here on Bonaire!

 

[Korsu]

I was hardly trying to be politically correct, 101. Having hand collected reef fish for Aquariums, I don't find netting all that hard. The reason the Lionfish are proliferating has more to do with their biology than with the lack of success of eradication programs. Plus Bonaire and Curacao are like most every other Caribbean island...fished out. There are few if any large predators left.
Unfortunately at the moment there does not seem to be a consensus on how to approach the problem here on Curacao, nor the money to fund any well monitored program.

 

[DiverVince]

Training DM's to Use a trident hand spear would be a quick simple and successful strategy. Remember, very little diving is done on the east side of the island so the lionfish are gobbling up all the small reef fish there before then can migrate over to the west side where most of the diving occurs.

From my perspective, this ain't brain surgery! I have said this from day one. The current methods being utilized are not and will not be efficient. That's pure and simple. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. This is NOT to take anything away from the good folks on the island who are trying their best to ameliorate the situation. I laud their efforts, it's the procedures being implemented that I have a problem with.

The crux of the problem is the law on Bonaire which completely bans spearfishing. I can't do it, you can't do it & most importantly STINAPA (nor anyone it trains) can't legally do it. I understand and completely agree with the early efforts of those who were on the forefront of developing the Bonaire dive industry in banning all spearfishing. Unfortunately, the situation has now materially changed (due to our own misconduct I might add).

To avoid misunderstanding, I do not advocate eliminating the ban on spearfishing, just modifying it so specially trained divers can utilize more productive measures to counteract the invasion which is currently underway and from what I see is rapidly spinning out of control..

 

[Mike]

I was hardly trying to be politically correct, 101. Having hand collected reef fish for Aquariums, I don't find netting all that hard. The reason the Lionfish are proliferating has more to do with their biology than with the lack of success of eradication programs. Plus Bonaire and Curacao are like most every other Caribbean island...fished out. There are few if any large predators left.
Unfortunately at the moment there does not seem to be a consensus on how to approach the problem here on Curacao, nor the money to fund any well monitored program.

Eradication through hand capture or hand killing or any sort is not possible. You can only hope to maintain to some degree a small swath of reef system.

We have to keep in mind that recreational diving is to 130ft. So beyond 130 ft the lion fish are breeding and eating all day long totally un-harrased. Every island in the caribbean can only be a fortress in a wilderness, with control of the first 130 ft of depth around it, beyond that is an an endless supply of more lionfish in an uncontrollable breeding ground, which will keep creating a virtually endless supply waiting to take the place of the ones removed within that 130 ft depth control zone.

 

[TheWizard]

From my perspective, this ain't brain surgery! I have said this from day one. The current methods being utilized are not and will not be efficient. That's pure and simple. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.....

I'm a rocket scientist and I completely agree with what Vince says about this...