Lionfish.....unfortunately

[jghflash]

Man there are a lot of lionfish around Bonaire now! We just got back from 11 days there and we saw lionfish on all but three dives. One day doing Karpata to the west, we saw six on that one dive alone. Everything from 2 inch babies to some about 14 inches long. Seems like most of them were 50' (+- 10 feet), at least for us. Unfotunately there are so many that they don't bother with marking them anymore, you just report to STINAPA which reef, what depth and direction you saw concentrations and they put it on a list for the "lion hunters" to go to. The guys I spoke with that are checked out on the ELF said they just take it on every dive. A lot of the DM's were doing that as well off the resort boats. Seems like some of the DM's are asking the boat divers if they have a problem with them spearing the little buggers and if anyone votes no, they leave the ELF on the boat. The guys from Yellow Sub told me they actually had someone on one of their trips tell them they had a problem with it "because they are so beautiful". Guess those folks are just woefully uninformed!

 

[CuracaoJ]

I'd say the program there is working then! If you can go 3 dives without seeing any at all, and are only seeing 6 per dive I'd say that's great. Now I know that doesn't mean that they are getting rid of them, as all you have to do is go to 150' to see the ocean wallpapered with them, but at least it creates a little sheltering for the corals and juveniles in certain places.

In the last 6 months in Curacao, I haven't gone a single dive without seeing at least 6, usually more like 15-20. I wish they would let us have our ELFs already!

Jeff

 

[Bas Noij]

One the ELFs arrive you will be addicted Jeff. Hunting lionfish brings a whole new level of skill and thrill to your dives and you are helping the reef in the process. Top it off with a great meal at the end of the day....yummie.

Here on Bonaire the group of hunters is growing and getting more active. And the number are really dropping. Of course new lionfish keep coming in so it will be a continuous battle but the reefs where we actively hunt are almost lionfish free for a while.

 

[Deac in the Wake]

Why just tell someone else? The reef is as much a diver's responsibility as anyone's. I've seen photographers taking pictures of the damn things and waited until they were done before gliding in and sticking the little SOBs. Stab 'em and bag 'em.

I'm sure the Trojans thought the Greek's horse was beautiful. How'd that work out?

 

[jghflash]

......except on Bonaire, unless you are "deputized" by STINAPA and get an assigned ELF from them, you are not legally supposed to spear fish for anything in the Marine Park. Since I vacation dive there, I'll leave that to the locals......although it would be fun!

 

[ronski101]

Stinapa is missing a real opportunity here. If they charge vacationing divers to take a lion fish eradication course, buy a special tag, and buy an approved spear, they will make a bunch of money, many divers would enjoy it, we will make a bigger dent in the lion fish population, and the local emergency room will make a bunch of money also. Looks like a win win to me.

 

[Griffins]

I sense a new Padi certification- Lion Fish Hunter.

 

[newgentry]

My daughter and I just got back last Saturday, we were there a week. And I will echo the comment about the things being everywhere. We saw one at Weber's Joy that was as big as a football.

 

[Bas Noij]

STINAPA is in the process of setting up a program together with several dive operators to allow visitors to also participate in the hunts with an ELF. The ELF dedicated for that are already at STINAPA but they are working out legal and liability issues at the moment. The way it looks you would have to take a course first with some theory and a practical training session. After completing that successfully you could go out on guided dives with licensed operators. This is not possible right now but by the looks of it soon will. What is of course possible (and actually quite popular at the moment) is to go out on a hunting dive where you act as spotter and bag handler while your guide does the actual spearing.

 

[TheWizard]

Stinapa is missing a real opportunity here. If they charge vacationing divers to take a lion fish eradication course, buy a special tag, and buy an approved spear, they will make a bunch of money, many divers would enjoy it, we will make a bigger dent in the lion fish population, and the local emergency room will make a bunch of money also. Looks like a win win to me.

This is somewhat amusing...