cpichette
Contributor
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?
Is there any sense out there of what the trend is for the lionfish population? Are there any studies being done?