FWC permanently waives license requirement for lionfish harvest

[100days-a-year]

they are making their way onto restaurant menus,@5$ per pound one could make a few bucks if one had a polespear and a collection bag...I average about a pound per fish BTW

 

[mjsylver]

Does this mean we all have double O status with a license to kill the little bastards? I'll take my age,0054.

 

[OceanEyes]

I hate to be a wet blanket, but while I laud the new legislation, I believe that this is an instance of closing the corral long after the horses have fled.


The local Lionfish population is now well established, (in many areas, it is intractably entrenched,) and when you consider the breeding habits of Pterois volitans, the outlook is not at all optimistic as regards regulating, let alone eliminating the invaders. A healthy adult female can live for as long as 15 years, and is capable of releasing a massive clutch of eggs on a monthly basis. Couple this robust and voluminous capacity to reproduce with a virtually non-existent population of natural predators, and our attempt to control their numbers with spears, nets, slurp guns, and other tools seems doomed to failure. I wish that I had another assessment or plan to offer, but am unable to provide one.


On the up side, when simply and properly prepared, Lionfish are delicious.


Just a note: If you’re heading to Ireland, don’t bring any snakes.

 

[The Chairman]

d our attempt to control their numbers with spears, nets, slurp guns, and other tools seems doomed to failure..

Fun is never considered a failure and catching them is just that. This has the possibility of creating an avenue to promote diving and spear fishing. I like that!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I hate to be a wet blanket, but while I laud the new legislation, I believe that this is an instance of closing the corral long after the horses have fled.


The local Lionfish population is now well established, (in many areas, it is intractably entrenched,) and when you consider the breeding habits of Pterois volitans, the outlook is not at all optimistic as regards regulating, let alone eliminating the invaders. ..... Couple this robust and voluminous capacity to reproduce with a virtually non-existent population of natural predators, and our attempt to control their numbers with spears, nets, slurp guns, and other tools seems doomed to failure. I wish that I had another assessment or plan to offer, but am unable to provide one.

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. Where the divers are, the LF populations are in check. I dived an area not known for divers. LF all over the place.

 

[Fishspearit]

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. Where the divers are, the LF populations are in check. I dived an area not known for divers. LF all over the place.

And that's why divers should keep hunting them, or start hunting them, because we are establishing safe areas for the native populations to continue surviving. The choice is not 'Eliminate all lionfish' or do nothing, our choice is 'reduce the lionfish population where our juveniles live on the shallow reefs we dive' or do nothing.

 

[Capt Scotty]

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. Where the divers are, the LF populations are in check. I dived an area not known for divers. LF all over the place.

Scuba Jenny, you are so right. Dive here in Key Largo on one of the SPA areas and most likely you will not see one. Dive a 200 foot wreck and you will see dozens of the biggest suckers you have ever seen in the US.

 

[idive2]

With regards to keeping specific dive locations free from LF I have noticed increased numbers at the Blue Heron
Bridge in West Palm Beach. The area has a beach and fishing piers so florida statutes prohibit spearfishing in the park.
After years of being on the fence with regards to the LF population I am now considering legal ways I may help
to keep the LF population down at the bridge. I have read by a post from REEF that netting and returning to shore
is best but this is not always practical. And pole or spear feeding these to other fish may not be a great idea. But my
actual question is in regards to using devices actually designed for LF hunting and whether or not these are permitted
at the bridge.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

As long as it's spear of some sort, it is not allowed at the bridge. Unfortunately.
The law is very clear.
Only way to get them is by net. Course you can kill them right away, but no spears.
Lionfish FAQs