Lionfish problem SOLVED

[divegirl0104]

I heard Utila had a massive hunt of the lionfish and all the dive shops got together to have lionfish BBQ buffet afterwards. I think that's a great idea and if the local diveshops can work together to educated the local authorities on its importance then hunting them wouldn't be a problem.

and for the Asian joke...(i'm asian btw) your probably right! how sad.

 

[laurenceh]

we've had two lionfish "rodeo's", followed by cook off's on utila in the last year, organized by b.i.c.a.
500+ lionfish were culled in a single day on both occasions (thats a lot of filleting to do) and amazing food was then prepared by the islands best chefs. we got to enjoy sushi, soups, fish and chips,stews, fish cakes etc. etc. lionfish are really tasty with a buttery taste that remind me of hamachi.
these cook off's were two of the best attended events (other than carnival) ever on utila.
sadly despite offering free food, no locals came to the first one and only a handful attended the second one, they are are still convinced that the flesh is poisonous, even though we all survived.

 

[TXreefer]

We need to have more of those type of events. If everyone knew how tasty they were, their populations could be controlled better.

I heard from a guy at my local LDS yesterday that they have started letting divers on Bonaire spear them. You may have to have the new specialty cert though.

 

[Magnolia3]

Marathon FL March 1 -

Want to try lionfish? Make plans to come hear REEF's Director Lad Akins talk about catching, cleaning and cooking the invasive species next Thursday, March 1, 6:30p at Marathon Power Squadron Build behind Panda House Restaurant.

 

[rob@diveinutila.com]

We are possibly noticing fewer lionfish on dives than before. But if you visit a rarely dived locations (remoter, deeper or too shallow) we see as many as ever. It seems as if they have figured out that diveable locations are not good ones to hang out in if you're a lionfish.

 

[RTBDiver]

We are possibly noticing fewer lionfish on dives than before. But if you visit a rarely dived locations (remoter, deeper or too shallow) we see as many as ever. It seems as if they have figured out that diveable locations are not good ones to hang out in if you're a lionfish.

All the more reeason to leave it up to Islanders who have been raised to hunt and fish for food and money. Let them know about cleaning, have some restaurants offer "exotic" lionfish meals and pay locals per pound for the fish and the local problem will soon me resolved, Afterall, we do not se any overpopulation of Iguana, Lobster, Conch, Deer, grouper , turtles, snapper or any other critter that is a valuable food or income source. Let the locals hunt them, Promote places serving them and watch them fade

 

[Mike]

This solution has been discussed a bunch of times, the problem with thinking lion fish populations will be controlled by commercial harvest, is the problem that fishermen will ignore the juveniles because they aren't big enough yet. All that you'll see if the harvesting is as popular as you hope is the larger lion fish disappear, while the juveniles continue to decimate the reef fish population until they grow large enough to harvest. You've got to kill them all like they do in Cozumel to control them.

 

[DandyDon]

How do you guard against this? More data emerges about ciguatera toxin in lionfish « Green Antilles

 

[fred3798]

I just returned from ten days in Cozumel and 16 dives. We only saw one lionfish. Our DM took his spear on several dives amd saw none either. Someone seems to be doing a good job.

 

[Mike]

How do you guard against this? More data emerges about ciguatera toxin in lionfish « Green Antilles

Interesting findings. If it's going to hold up and be found to be accepted, you can probably gauge eating lion fish in a region is okay by if the area considers barracuda a trash fish or edible.