Lioinfish spearing

A good article in the Cayman Compass, Hunters warned not to feed lionfish to predators :: cayCompass.com

They advocate not feeding the lion fish to the predators. Every dive op I have used in LC and Brac feed the dead/speared fish to the groupers or sharks. I hate to say it, but that can be the best part of the dive. Unfortunately, it may have a negative, long term effect on the big animals ,so I guess there will be no more lion fish feeds. Besides, it is against the law.

I guess all the GOPRO videos will be seized by the DOE for future cases. Cheerrs

I've always thought this was a dumb idea, the predators don't know they're eating lionfish, all they know is they're being feed by a funny looking fish.

ScubaSteve1962:

I've always thought this was a dumb idea, the predators don't know they're eating lionfish, all they know is they're being feed by a funny looking fish.

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I think they do know more than that. I admit that my experience with this is limited, but in Cozumel last year I paid a lot of attention to the process. After a while it got so we knew when there was a lion fish in the area. How? By the behavior of the other fish. They knew there was a lion fish nearby, and they knew there were divers. They began to move over for the feed before we even saw the lion fish. They waited patiently nearby for the kill and the feeding. Now, I can't say for sure what they knew, but it looked to me that they had figured out that the lion fish was something they could not go after on their own, but if they hung around a little, a meal was coming. Their ability to predict the feeding that far ahead of time was what interested me.

I also agree with the article--take the lion fish top side and sell it to a restaurant. It tastes great.

boulderjohn:

I think they do know more than that. I admit that my experience with this is limited, but in Cozumel last year I paid a lot of attention to the process. After a while it got so we knew when there was a lion fish in the area. How? By the behavior of the other fish. They knew there was a lion fish nearby, and they knew there were divers. They began to move over for the feed before we even saw the lion fish. They waited patiently nearby for the kill and the feeding. Now, I can't say for sure what they knew, but it looked to me that they had figured out that the lion fish was something they could not go after on their own, but if they hung around a little, a meal was coming. Their ability to predict the feeding that far ahead of time was what interested me.

I also agree with the article--take the lion fish top side and sell it to a restaurant. It tastes great.

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So don't you get the same reaction, in say shark alley in the Bahamas? the sharks know boat noise plus funny looking fish equal feeding? so they come around. do they really know what they are eating, or that it's just feeding time? even though they have no known predator now, I think nature will eventually take care of itself, like it always does.

I understand why people like it, but I'm not a fan of feeding in any situation. When I was in GC last year, it seem mostly the mutton snapper that were reacting to the lion fish hunting -- on my first dive I was quite startled to catch a glimpse of something big in my peripheral vision then I realized it was just a big snapper sidling up right next to me. In St. Croix, it was the reef sharks and that was a little less comfortable. They weren't aggressive, but abnormally curious and any altered behavior with something that could take my arm off makes me a little nervous. I'd much rather enjoy some lionfish sashimi topside and keep it a little more challenging to get to close to the big predators while diving.

I think you are correct, nature will take care of it, but it may be when there is nothing else for the grouper and eels and sharks to eat that they finally eat the one fish left. Lionfish. In Coz it is hard to find a lionfish in the park, the guides are doing such a great job. and even the snapper know when there is a lionfish that might be food soon.

ScubaSteve1962:

So don't you get the same reaction, in say shark alley in the Bahamas? the sharks know boat noise plus funny looking fish equal feeding? so they come around. do they really know what they are eating, or that it's just feeding time? even though they have no known predator now, I think nature will eventually take care of itself, like it always does.

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I have never been there, bnut I did a shark dive in Ste. Maarten. We were told that they do the dive twice a week, always on the same day and always at the same time. There are always sharks there on those days and those times. There are never sharks there on other days and at other times.

I was reacting to the "fish don't know..." comment. I think they know a lot more than we give them credit for.

I recently returned from two weeks in Belize, diving and doing reef conservation work with ReefCI. They used to feed speared lionfish to predators, but as elsewhere, they have discontinued this practice. I could still see the legacy of changed behavior of some fish species. A nurse shark actually came up off the bottom and was nudging the lionfish bag. On another dive a large nassau grouper followed our dive group throughout a dive - moving in each time a lionfish was speared.

Here is a blog posting about the lionfish issue. Part 2 will focus on control efforts, including culling and efforst to promote lionfish as a commercial species.

I think 'feeding' comes in 2 types, which may not be equivalent.

1.) Spear the lionfish, then told the spear out for the predator to take it off of - sort of like hand-feeding.

2.) Spear the lionfish, let it drop and whatever scavenges it, scavenges it.

I've never spear fished. I've seen enough written by spear fishermen talking about giving up their catch to (or contending with) sharks, plus a buddy of mine talking about a (spotted?) moray eel in Bonaire acting rather excited when a dive master was spearing lionfish, that I'd be leery of hauling around bleeding, dying fish.

Like what PK1 wrote of, above; I don't want to be swimming along, feel something nudge me, turn and realize a hungry shark is poking something I'm carrying (or me), hunting for something to bite.

If I ever get to spear any, I'll probably drop them where they fall off the spear.

Richard.

P.S.: Having read the article, they are opposed to dropping speared lionfish on the reef, but are we that sure this is more enticing to predators, & associates us more as a food source, vs. hauling around a few bleeding dead ones in a containment device?

people started spearing the lion fish in Turks & caicos islands but in under a month of this the sharks became quite aggressive and it got to a point that if you entered the water with a spear you would have 5-6 sharks on you and bumping into you and causing hassle then a fisherman was poaching in a marine park over there well he didnt make it back !!! so they have thousands of the lion fish and catching them in nets aint the best way to do it .
You name it and Man messes it up!!!! (we are good at that!)