Lionfish Eradication: Recipes, Killing Techniques, and Information

[Chugwhump]

If anyone is perusing this thread, and you are trying to figure out where to see some big whopper LION FISH in the Jupiter area, I recommend a trip to the "Hole In The Wall" with Emerald Charters ( link here-scuba diving jupiter).
This is a deeper dive for a few minutes but most of the trip is in the 110'-130' range
(OK-OK-OK, some people think anything over 50' is deep, I am a jaded SF Diver, so what can I say).
I dove with them last Friday, and there were large ones all over the place on this dive.
Here is a link to my first ever uploaded video to YouTube.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVdNxJoXxLM&amp;context=C3e0d28eADOEgsToPDskLl Or2uLUK__5Gx8VZ-Ckha" target="_blank">[video=youtube;DVdNxJoXxLM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVdNxJoXxLM&amp;context=C3e0d28eADOEgsToPDskLl Or2uLUK__5Gx8VZ-Ckha[/video]

Chug
Killz-'em-till-their-dead, cause they taste good!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Got two yesterday off Ft. Lauderdale. One was small and after chopping off it's wholly head fed it to the fishies. The other was big enough to bag and bring home. After an internet search came up with a suitable recipe for Bacon Wrapped Lionfish. Was OK.. but more importantly, Hermit Crab liked it.. so we will work on perfecting the recipe.

Two others did swim away, but they each had 3 holes in them...death should be forthcoming..

 

[Chugwhump]

Jenny;
My wife did a light pan fry on some Lion Fish filets I whacked, and after lightly pan frying them she put an almond dusting of some kind on them.
It is some kind of a Cuban recipe that is typically used for Snapper.
It was EXCELLENT!
By the way, my group and I did a shore dive today off the very south end of Pompano beach and killed about 8 or so.
There were some pretty good sized ones for that shallow of a dive.
We did not bust 1atm.
I kept the bigger ones over 8", but shredded the little ones into little pieces and fed them to the fishes.
The Gag Grouper, Trigger Fish, Pork Fish, Damsels, Yellow, and Blue Head Wrasse ate 'em up.

Chug
Rarely feeds the fish that way.

 

[AC3 SHEFFER]

I live in Key West, and I see one every now and then. can anyone recommend any dive sites where I am more likely to find lion fish?

 

[Mr. Black]

This thread seems to have lost momentum

I am not into killing stuff and being hands-on with the underwater environment but here in St. Kitts and Nevis, the lion-fish are out of control. Some sites they'd sit in the open in clusters of 4-6 arrogantly watching me glider over a reef with less and less life.

So my LDS just got into population control and they do at least 10 dives a week they go eliminate a handful of lion-fish.

I started reading about the issue and one thing that troubles me is that there is a lot of mis-information out there. I have seen sites that claim lion-fish breed every 4 days and deposit 20000 eggs each time. Other sites say they breed every 4 months. Other sites say they breed every 6 weeks. So which is it (For the Caribbean) ???

Some sites claim lion-fish feed at sunrise others claim they feed at sunset.

I like to go to war with solid Intel in hand... Not with faulty intel promising a cache of WMD that end up not being there

I don't really mind what time they feed and what their exact breeding cycles are for I see that theres too many of them and native fish stocks are declining. But I do want to have my facts straight when tourists on the boat ask about what we are doing spearing these fish and why it is an issue. I'd hate to regurgitate faulty information I have found on various sites.

 

[iluvtheocean]

how about distilling it down to the fact that they are an invasive species that eat the local fish left & right, highly prolific breeders, and have no natural predators in the area so nothing is killing them off except divers... they are destroying the local ecosystem balance

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

An excellent resource is the REEF.org website. This link is a start..
Lionfish Research Program | Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)

 

[Mr. Black]

how about distilling it down to the fact that they are an invasive species that eat the local fish left & right, highly prolific breeders, and have no natural predators in the area so nothing is killing them off except divers... they are destroying the local ecosystem balance

Too generic. Won't cut it with my crowd. Someone will throw in some stats or numbers that may or may not be correct and the discussion will get out of hand Would be much nicer to have a reasonably accurate version to disseminate out there.

Look at this CNN article that says "Lionfish were first recorded decades ago and their population has grown quickly. They produce 30,000 to 40,000 eggs every few days and are sexually mature by 1 year old."

Wikipedia says "Pterois can live from five to fifteen years and have complex courtship and mating behaviors.^[8] Females release two mucus-filled egg clusters frequently, which can contain as many as fifteen thousand eggs."It also states that they feed in the morning: "The amount of prey in lionfish stomachs over the course of the day suggest that lionfish feed most actively from 7:00&#8211;11:00 am, with decreased feeding throughout the afternoon."

Reef.org's fact sheet talks of 15000-20000 eggs every few days and feeding during dusk or dawn.

Some other places say they breed every few weeks. You can see how there can be some issues when talking to people about the need to cull them...

If the consensus is that the reef.org fact sheet is the most accurate data out there I will stick to it.

 

[Nick A]

Reef.org is a great reference, but Dr James Morris and Paula Whitfield from NOAA are subject matter experts. The main researcher at reef.org is a scientist from Oregon. NOAA, reef.org and the USGCS do collaborate though. As far accurate, up to date information, the folks at NOAA have it. We take lionfish to the lab at NOAA and Duke for research quite frequently and usually once a month someone from NOAA is on one of the boats for lionfish research.

 

[keller34]

Last month I nailed one at Anna Maria, Fl. I was surprised to see it because I have dove that site many times and never saw one. After I killed it I tore it into pieces and the other fish at the reef ate it. I had to smile just thinking of them say " Yea Mofo what now! We eating your A** now!" Been dieing to go back but with my sons wedding and all I have had a 3 week break.

I was hoping to go out this Sat. and hunt for them and some flounder.