The Unintended Consequences of Hunting Lionfish

[iDiveCayman]

Diving on Grand Cayman is changing. There was a time when a free swimming moray was a rarity. Finding a nurse shark hiding under a ledge was something you hoped to find, and when you did, it made the dive. Now, due to a few bad apples, aggressive eels and nurse sharks are the norm. Aggressive eels can be found on nearly every wall site. These large marine predators are being trained to associate divers with food by being fed a daily supply of lionfish from the hands of divers.
Don't get me wrong, we all love seeing nurse sharks while diving. It is however only a matter of time before our favorite resident shark "Squeaky" or "Fin" accidentally bites some unsuspecting diver and is then fished out and killed by the authorities because a few took it upon themselves to break the law.

Unfortunately little can be done to deter DMs from feeding marine predators speared lionfish. If you see this activity, please contact DoE enforcement at doe@gov.ky or call Mark Orr on 916-4271

When Danger Approaches | Cayman Islands Diving | iDive Blog

 

[iamrushman]

thanks for the info....feeding the animals has it's consequences.

 

[Hondaid]

Thats why the local dive pros need to take a lionfish class.

 

[Stoo]

Yup... And not restricted to the Caymans. I find myself using my camera as a shield on a good portion of my warm water dives. One strobe has a bite mark in it from a reef shark in T&C because a guy was spearing lionfish 50 yards away. I have theory that critters mistake a strobe on the end of an arm with a fish on the end of a spear.

Also, I am considering adding a "cup" to my dive kit since I find morays always seem to end up between my legs when they're on the prowl for speared lionfish!

 

[T-rex12]

This a good reminder of the consequences of feeding! Thanks for the info!

 

[chillyinCanada]

In T&C, Stoo? I'd have sworn that I was told the government had a no spearing policy that extended to lionfish, as they were taking the position that nature would take care of itself.

Mia? Are you reading this?

 

[Stoo]

In T&C, Stoo? I'd have sworn that I was told the government had a no spearing policy that extended to lionfish, as they were taking the position that nature would take care of itself.

Mia? Are you reading this?

This was maybe four of five years ago, while we were on a liveaboard... Perhaps prior to the law?

 

[boulderjohn]

Yup... And not restricted to the Caymans. I find myself using my camera as a shield on a good portion of my warm water dives. One strobe has a bite mark in it from a reef shark in T&C because a guy was spearing lionfish 50 yards away. I have theory that critters mistake a strobe on the end of an arm with a fish on the end of a spear.

Also, I am considering adding a "cup" to my dive kit since I find morays always seem to end up between my legs when they're on the prowl for speared lionfish!

The association of sharks and strobes has been noted many times over the years. I started a thread on it myself some years ago. It happens in places with no history of spear fishing whatsoever. The most common theory is that the electronics in the strobe somehow stimulates the sensors sharks use to identify prey.

 

[Stoo]

The association of sharks and strobes has been noted many times over the years. I started a thread on it myself some years ago. It happens in places with no history of spear fishing whatsoever. The most common theory is that the electronics in the strobe somehow stimulates the sensors sharks use to identify prey.

Yup... In this case, it seemed "excessive"... Made for some cool shots though!

 

[billinwilliamston]

There was a period of time when the prevailing thought was to spear invasive lionfish and feed them to the neighborhood predators. The idea was that the predators would learn to look at lionfish as a food source and return the balance of the reef. What happened instead was that the local predators learned to look at divers as waitstaff. No shark attacks have resulted so far, but a couple of morays have attacked divers. I have been told that the spearing of lionfish is no longer allowed on Cayman wall dives due to the number of aggressive apex predators approaching divers looking for a hand out.