Now heres a good one. The lionfish have invaded the reefs Cozumel, as we all have hear, seen and read. But what happens when the fish are invading a reef where sport and commercial scuba diving is not permitted? In cozumel, with so many ppl diving it monitoring the area is less of a problem. Last week while doing some monitoring for fish grouping in the southern reef of the Sian Ka'an biosfere reserve, 128 km south of Cozumel, a diver brought to me a fish he had found in a lobster trap inside the coastal lagoon in Sian Ka'an. The fish turned out to be , sadly, a very healthy and very live lionfish. Four others were reported to me in the same week, all inside the coastal lagoon, inside the lobster traps in less than 10 feet of water and near the mangroves.
Now the tricky part here is that tank or compressored diving is not permited inside the reserve unless with special permit and for scientific reasons. So the only real gauge to monitor the invasion of the lionfish in this area are the coop fisherman that are free diving for spearfishing and lobster catching. Well that and the monthly monitoring for fish aggregations we been doing.
Interesting problem on this area.
