Hi I visited the island several months back and did four days of boat diving with Go West, in Westpunt . On the first day I spoke with the DM, Daniel (who was on his last day with the shop) and was told that there was absolutely no Lionfish hunting allowed on the boat and he indicated tourists shouldn’t be hunting them. Friends had told me before I went to speak with David at Sol food, as he was an avid Lionfish hunter. When I attempted this it was back to ‘tourists have no business hunting Lionfish’. I later was told Daniel and David were fishing buddies.
On the fourth day Daniel’s replacement’s significant other, Luke (also a DM and Instructor but not fully employed by the shop), brought a small zookeeper and 24” (toy, POS) spear on board. It was too late to run back to my room and get my 5’ travel spear, so I buddied up with Luke. This was Luke’s first time with a spear and it was a hoot watching him try to hit a small guy hiding on a piece of hull in the sand near a wreck, but he quickly figured it out and was hooked on Lion fishing.
For the next few days, without knowledge of where to go, Luke and I went shore diving and did fairly well. The little spear he had was of limited use but he was very good at spotting them so most of the time he would spot and I would pop them. 8 the first day, 6 the next but we found the accessible shore dive sites were pretty picked over. Then we heard they like to feed at sunset and on the last night we did a night dive. Jackpot, directly in front of Go West at the ‘Alice In Wonderland’ which is one of the most heavily dived sites around (we had previously only seen a couple Pez Leon during the day) I nailed around a dozen in about 20 minutes (just before sunset and plus 30 minutes seems like prime feeding time). Once back to Luke’s place I gave him my fish and spear, so he would have a semi decent one. After I left a guy walking by stuck up a conversation with Luke and explained that there was an active market at the local restaurants for Pez Leon @ 15 Guilders a kilo and pointed out a little restaurant about 100 meters away, on a cliff . 30 minutes later and 60 Guilders richer, Luke had a new employment plan.
If you are in Westpunt I would go by Go West and ask the manager, Andreas, how to get ahold of Luke. I would not be surprised if he was guiding by now. Also you might email Andreas and ask him if they have any Zoo keepers for rent.
As for a buoy I did not use one until coming back in.