Any thoughts on why there isn’t a bounty on lionfish

[kelemvor]

These women caught more than 900 lionfish in 24 hours off the Florida coast

ooooooh
For she's a jolly good woman, for she's a jolly good woman
For she's a jolly good woman(pause), which nobody can deny
Which nobody can deny, which nobody can deny
For she's a jolly good woman, for she's a jolly good woman
For she's a jolly good woman(pause), which nobody can deny!

 

[kelemvor]

Spearing will never get rid of lion fish. CRISPR will get rid of lion fish. Engineer a male that passes on a hereditary trait of only being able to produce male progeny, introduce a few hundred of these guys into the Caribbean, give it a few years, and they'll all be gone. They only downside is if one of these males ends up getting into the asiatic waters where lion fish are part of the ecosystem.

It's an interesting idea, but humans have a long history of screwing this up badly. There's example after example of situations where humans introduced something to one locale in order to eliminate something else. Later they find that what they introduced is far worse than the thing they were eliminating.

 

[tbone1004]

It's an interesting idea, but humans have a long history of screwing this up badly. There's example after example of situations where humans introduced something to one locale in order to eliminate something else. Later they find that what they introduced is far worse than the thing they were eliminating.

quite different with introducing a new species and what is essentially making the species infertile. With CRISPR you basically remove their ability to reproduce

 

[kelemvor]

quite different with introducing a new species and what is essentially making the species infertile. With CRISPR you basically remove their ability to reproduce

Yep, I get that. Off the top of his head @kmarks already identified one plausible way that it could go horribly wrong. There may be more potential problems he didn't think of.

I guess from one perspective, causing lionfish to go extinct is better than the number of Caribbean species that might become extinct if the lionfish aren't killed.

Should we do it is a tough question. Unfortunately all it will take is some guy with access to crispr-cas9, so there will likely not be much debate.

 

[woodcarver]

Man has a very bad history when we try to "help" with this kind of thing. My example earlier is the nutria in the SE. Snakes in HI would be another.

 

[100days-a-year]

I make more that enough selling them to make it worthwhile without a bounty,but it would be nice.
I don't qualify for the 50$ per person per day charter bounty in Florida being commercial,and they don't have them elsewhere.
I personally had close to 3000 pounds last year @ $5.50 per pound,my boat had over 5K lbs.
I have dove spot 6 weeks later and seen none after harvesting a spot and 2 weeks later on another and gotten more.The inhabit the fringes as well as the main piece of structure.I dive to 180'ish and they are just as plentiful there but bottom time limits harvests.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Okay. Come down to Florida and see how many you catch within recreational depths. I'll bet you'll have a hard time filling a zookeeper.

Now imagine how things would look if no one was hunting them. The ecosystem would be totally screwed, but divers are keeping their numbers in accessible range in check. It's all a matter of buying time until the local fish catch up.

The "wasting your time" attitude is ridiculous. It also defies logic that man can't impact a species. There's a reason we have fishing regulations.

I did my first four dives of the year last weekend. We didn't find any. In the past we would see a few every dive.

I never suggested that man can't impact a species ... of course they can. Humans impact thousands of species ... many to the point of extinction. Lionfish, unfortunately, aren't one of them.

What I said was that your attempts to control the species are ineffective. You can't control the lionfish population by spearfishing. The very concept is ridiculous. Each female can produce over a million offspring per year. How many spearfishers would you need to control the population of each individual female lionfish in your local area? And that's assuming that other lionfish wouldn't simply move in. Uh uh ... if you want to have an impact on the lionfish population you need to go after the eggs, and wipe them out by the scores of thousands at a time. So far I don't see that happening.

No ... what you're seeing is very localized, and only possible because lionfish have other, and perhaps better alternatives and have learned to avoid those areas densely populated by humans ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Spearing will never get rid of lion fish. CRISPR will get rid of lion fish. Engineer a male that passes on a hereditary trait of only being able to produce male progeny, introduce a few hundred of these guys into the Caribbean, give it a few years, and they'll all be gone. They only downside is if one of these males ends up getting into the asiatic waters where lion fish are part of the ecosystem.

... and after we're done testing it on lionfish, develop a similar strategy for humans ... it would solve a lot more than the lionfish problem ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[CuzzA]

No ... what you're seeing is very localized, and only possible because lionfish have other, and perhaps better alternatives and have learned to avoid those areas densely populated by humans ...

Ah, so we are effectively driving them off the shallow reefs all along the coast of Florida. You're contradicting yourself.

This year the FWC put the tagged lionfish for the $5,000 Lionfish Challenge/Bounty in 80-120 fsw. Why is that?

Nevertheless, believe what you want. They will not be eradicated, but the tropicals, bait and juvenile fish are being helped by spearfisherman who shoot them with a spear instead of a camera.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It's an interesting idea, but humans have a long history of screwing this up badly. There's example after example of situations where humans introduced something to one locale in order to eliminate something else. Later they find that what they introduced is far worse than the thing they were eliminating.

Particularly in Florida ... Burmese python, anyone?

Someone already mentioned the nutria, elsewhere in the south.

Starlings? The feds kill millions of them every year, trying to keep them in check. They've been doing so for more than 100 years ... yet there's more starlings now than there were 100 years ago.

Chesapeake Bay snakeheads? There's a pretty close comparison between them and the Caribbean lionfish ... and despite prodigious efforts to eradicate them (in an area far more localized than the lionfish) still they are spreading.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)