PADI * LEDS (Lionfish Eradication Divers Specialty) Course

[h=1]Wow this didn't take long!

I can't wait for the PADI Clean Your Scuba Equipment Specialty Class or the PADI Scrub the Bottom of your Boat Specialty Class :cool2:

[/h]

where can i take this course ?

The course was developed by some instructors for PADI and was approved.

PADI Approves Lionfish Eradication Course | Lion Fish Fools

So while you may think, and assume, it's PADI simply out to make another dollar it's actually the instructors that put it together that should get the "credit" you are trying to give for it. Sure PADI gets a bad rap on some things, but it's not always just.

Guess it's better than having people out there getting impaled.

Gotta agree with JamesR and Jax about this. It's easy to be cynical about PADI, but I really think that cynicism is misplaced in this respect.

There's a bunch of serious hazards involved with lionfish culling.

There's a bunch of effective techniques that can be applied to mitigate those hazards.

Some instructors recognized the value of those techniques and formalized their delivery into a course structure.

PADI recognized the value of that course structure and made it available for other instructors to deliver.

Can anyone teach it now? Or is it still a distinctive specialty?

I'd like to ask a really dumb question. Why are we culling/eradicating lionfish? I know you're not supposed to touch them but isn't the whole premise behind diving to leave the aquatic life alone and just observe. Is there an over population of these things threatening human life.

Perhaps this whole thread is just a joke and it's gone over my head......

Lionfish have become an invasive species in many areas.

-Mitch

And as some people on this board can testament, touching them is not only because we dont want to harm them. They are a serious danger to your well being.
Theire very unlikely to kill you, but they are EXTREMELY painful to be stung by..

Infact, someone culling lionfish posted on this board about being sloppy and getting his finger properly penetrated by one.

XS-NRG:

I'd like to ask a really dumb question. Why are we culling/eradicating lionfish? I know you're not supposed to touch them but isn't the whole premise behind diving to leave the aquatic life alone and just observe. Is there an over population of these things threatening human life.

Perhaps this whole thread is just a joke and it's gone over my head......

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, this is not a joke…the lionfish are an extreme epidemic outside of their natural habitats.


Lionfish are a venomous marine fish found predominately in the Indo-Pacific Oceans. There are fifteen species of the lionfish (genus Pterois). In the mid-90s two species, the red lionfish (P. volitions) and the common lionfish (P. miles) were unintentionally introduced to the Atlantic Ocean and become an invasive species along the Eastern U.S. Coast, within the Caribbean and within the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. There are thoughts that after Hurricane Andrew destroyed an aquarium in southern Florida that six lion fish were accidently released into Biscayne Bay. Regardless of how they got there…they are out there.


The problem lies in that lionfish are not ingenuous to the region or its ecosystems and thus have not evolved within the ecological parameters of the ecosystem. Without natural barriers, such as predation or thermal control, the lionfish’s population density is increasing rapidly at the expense of the ecosystem’s natural inhabitants. Not only is the lionfish a ravenous predator, without its own predators to keep it in-check, it is also a prolific breeder, often reproducing monthly year-round. Now lionfish have been reported as far away as Louisiana, Cape Hatteras North Carolina, and throughout the Caribbean.


Based on studies conducted by NOAA , the most effective way to just control the species would be to cull at least 27% of the population. Along with NOAA and other environmental groups, hunting is encourages. While we do not know the long term effects the lionfish will have on our ocean’s mariner life, the prognosis is not good. When an invasive species is left unchecked, many of the natural inhabitants within the ecosystem cannot survive. There are many examples of this such as the Brown Tree Snake in Guam which has decimated the native bird, bat and invertebrate populations and have resulted in the extinction of twelve-native bird species. It is quite possible that the lionfish could do the same in the western hemisphere.


The lionfish is a beautiful and elegant fish that I love to see when I dive…but only in the Indo-Pacific oceans. In my opinion, the conservation of the oceans is to protect marine life from all hazards created by man-kind. This is an ethical standpoint I gladly accept. I want my children and their children to enjoy the ocean’s same biodiversity that I have enjoyed.
:grouphug:


I for one will take the course if the opportunity arises.

~ME~