Lionfish control status

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cpichette

Contributor
Messages
71
Reaction score
9
Location
Chicago, IL
# of dives
200 - 499
I've been down in Cozumel four times in the last four months. It is pretty rare to see any significant number of lionfish on a dive in the marine park, although you can usually find a few, particularly on the deeper dives, if you make the effort to really look. I presume this is due to DM's actively killing them. I dove the east side and was surprised to only see 4-5 a dive while I was over there, and we were actively hunting for them. We were told this was because the fishermen are actively fishing for them because they have become popular in restaurants. My sense is that human intervention has had a significant impact on the lionfish population. On the other hand, there could be millions of them at depth or in areas that aren't dove as much.

Is there any sense out there of what the trend is for the lionfish population? Are there any studies being done?
 
I've heard from reliable sources there are still lots of big ones below 130. There would be fewer on the East side If I weren't the worst lion fish hunter in the world.
 
As I have said over and over: The way to control their population is to get people to eat them and have no laws on how many can be caught. We will eat them to extinction then LOL!

And they taste SOO good!
 
Tasty will help control the population within a limited area but if the rumor could be spread to Asia that they were an aphrodisiac, extinction would be right around the corner. Realistically we are modifying their behavior due to missed shots (including way too many misses from myself). The survivors seem to be learning to stay in dens deep in the reef to survive. If you do a true twilight dive around Palancar just before sunset you would be surprised at how many wonder out to feed. I have often seen many out on the first dive when I have been on Columbia or Palancar, prior to the morning fleet arriving. I would love to go out sometime very early just prior to daybreak to see if they are out feeding.
I know a rebreather diver who has explored pretty deep and he reports that while they are there the population density is not that thick. I range down to 140’ (short periods) and do not see a reel thick density but the ones found seem to be more mature. I am guessing this is due to less hunting pressure but the density limitation is due to food supply.
 
Cozumel is not a proper representaion of the Lion Fish infestation. 1000's and 1000's of recreational hunters patrol coz's reefs on a constant basis. Everwhere else... Off any FL coast around any structure that isn't a known dive spot they are everywhere, like a sickening infestation of roaches. The problem with these things is they can't be caught by hook or net. At this stage, this is a problem we can only to try to manage and we can't manage it well. The impact from them is going to get worse and worse and be more and more noticed.
 
Cozumel is not a proper representaion of the Lion Fish infestation. 1000's and 1000's of recreational hunters patrol coz's reefs on a constant basis. Everwhere else... Off any FL coast around any structure that isn't a known dive spot they are everywhere, like a sickening infestation of roaches. The problem with these things is they can't be caught by hook or net. At this stage, this is a problem we can only to try to manage and we can't manage it well. The impact from them is going to get worse and worse and be more and more noticed.

and in Florida.. there is a proposal to ban all taking of lionfish off the southeast coast via a prohibition on scuba spearing..
 
We were told this was because the fishermen are actively fishing for them because they have become popular in restaurants.

How do fishermen catch lionfish? They aren't fishing for them with line and hooks are they?
 
I watch them start out at about 6:45 AM at Meriando loading tanks into old trucks next to thier spear guns. About 1/4 of the tanks are Nitrox which is not near enough. They fish the North end and East side.
 

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