My First Lion Fish Meal

[jupitermermaid]

Lionfish are actually a very nutritious food source, being higher in omega-3 than most other fish, salmon included. While they may never be harvested in quantity due to the nature of where they hang out, every lionfish caught prevents hundreds of thousands of new lionfish being born. They ARE tasty and there are so many delicious ways to cook them.

 

[ggunn]

While they may never be harvested in quantity due to the nature of where they hang out, every lionfish caught prevents hundreds of thousands of new lionfish being born.

Not really. Lionfish compete with each other, and when you take one out of the game, another steps up to take its place. You don't really affect the reproduction rate that much by harvesting a few individuals.

 

[ggunn]

On the contrary, we killed about 25 that day and after cleaning the fish, we had well over a kilo of lionfish meat!

But that's my point. How long did it take you to produce a couple of pounds of meat? That's a very small quantity for a lot of effort, compared to other food fish. Sure, you can kill and eat a few of them, and that's great, but it's not going to affect the population of lionfish that much.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Dear Gordon,

Perhaps we just have a problem of perception. No one thinks that we are going to eradicate the lion fish, but at this time it is obvious that predation by DMs are having a very good impact on their proliferation, at least in the National Park. There it is now rare to see any larger than a few inches and it is my belief that this national park may be like a Noah's Ark for the fry of threatened reef fish we so much enjoy, and which will be the seedstock source to repopulate the wider Caribbean once natural predation occurs--and surely it will.

But outside the park, especially in the north and the Eastside of Cozumel and likely on the mainland, it is common to find BIG lion Fish, like 12-18 inches and each one makes a meal. Given that the National Park is somewhat under control now, if we can just get the native fishermen to harvest those big suckers then we will be making the "Ark" larger. That of course is dependent on us asking for Lion Fish meals in our restaurants!

I am trying to get others interested in Lion Fish hunts up North of the Park and with enough interest we may make it happen soon.


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[Pelagicsal]

The hunts up north have been happening most every day that I've been here...

 

[ggunn]

Dear Gordon,

Perhaps we just have a problem of perception. No one thinks that we are going to eradicate the lion fish, but at this time it is obvious that predation by DMs are having a very good impact on their proliferation, at least in the National Park. There it is now rare to see any larger than a few inches and it is my belief that this national park may be like a Noah's Ark for the fry of threatened reef fish we so much enjoy, and which will be the seedstock source to repopulate the wider Caribbean once natural predation occurs--and surely it will.

But outside the park, especially in the north and the Eastside of Cozumel and likely on the mainland, it is common to find BIG lion Fish, like 12-18 inches and each one makes a meal. Given that the National Park is somewhat under control now, if we can just get the native fishermen to harvest those big suckers then we will be making the "Ark" larger. That of course is dependent on us asking for Lion Fish meals in our restaurants!

I am trying to get others interested in Lion Fish hunts up North of the Park and with enough interest we may make it happen soon.


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

And good hunting to you. As I said earlier, it looks like the harvesting of lionfish in the park is having a reducing effect on their numbers in the park; that's a good thing and you guys deserve the credit.. Expanding the hunting grounds for them is good as well. Providing the ark for juvies is great if you can pull that off, too.

I submit, however, that the reef that is accessible to divers is a fairly small portion of the total reef system. The area accessible to lionfish is much larger, and you can't do anything about that. You aren't going to be able to run them off the island, I don't believe. You are going to have to police the reef in perpetuity to keep the infestation depressed where you can, and as their numbers build where you can't go you'll have to kill more and more of them.

 

[jupitermermaid]

So true, Gordon. We will never be able to eradicate the lionfish. However, in my experience, the more visited dive sites where divers slay the lionfish on a regular basis, the less we see on those particular sites. On the more infrequented sites, the more populated and larger lionfish are found. That proves that diligent spearing provides results where people are more prone to hunt the lionfish. Yes, in the less frequented areas the lionfish will prevail and spawn and grow to larger proportions. We cannot eradicate them completely, but we can help to reduce the repopultion in te areas that divers most frequent......for now, at least.......

 

[ggunn]

So true, Gordon. We will never be able to eradicate the lionfish. However, in my experience, the more visited dive sites where divers slay the lionfish on a regular basis, the less we see on those particular sites. On the more infrequented sites, the more populated and larger lionfish are found. That proves that diligent spearing provides results where people are more prone to hunt the lionfish. Yes, in the less frequented areas the lionfish will prevail and spawn and grow to larger proportions. We cannot eradicate them completely, but we can help to reduce the repopultion in te areas that divers most frequent......for now, at least.......

I absolutely agree.

 

[Pelagicsal]

Hopped on the night dive last night. Had bumped into DM at lunch, so I asked what he'd had and shared my choice, too. El capitan pipes up, "I had fish. Lionfish."

After the dive, I was chatting him up and asked where he'd gotten the lionfish. He grinned and said, 'My friend Gato gave it to me. Big one."
I replied that I knew where that lionfish'd had breakfast. I'd taken him and a few buddies on the first dive of the day.
He said, yes, he knew that and was wondering how long it was going to take me to catch on!

Gordon, I hear what you are saying, but I am unwilling to swim by and do nothing.

 

[Mike]

Dear Gordon,

Perhaps we just have a problem of perception. No one thinks that we are going to eradicate the lion fish, but at this time it is obvious that predation by DMs are having a very good impact on their proliferation, at least in the National Park. There it is now rare to see any larger than a few inches and it is my belief that this national park may be like a Noah's Ark for the fry of threatened reef fish we so much enjoy, and which will be the seedstock source to repopulate the wider Caribbean once natural predation occurs--and surely it will.

But outside the park, especially in the north and the Eastside of Cozumel and likely on the mainland, it is common to find BIG lion Fish, like 12-18 inches and each one makes a meal. Given that the National Park is somewhat under control now, if we can just get the native fishermen to harvest those big suckers then we will be making the "Ark" larger. That of course is dependent on us asking for Lion Fish meals in our restaurants!

I am trying to get others interested in Lion Fish hunts up North of the Park and with enough interest we may make it happen soon.


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

I hate to always be the one to poop on the parade, yes, I believe whle killing any lion fish is better than not killing one, however, I simply believe the reality of the effect that commercial lion fish fishing will have on the healthyness of a reef is really over-rated.

You have to think about a few things – The only place you have in Cozumel to judge whether lion fish killing is successful or not is in the park, this is where DMs and a few scuba enthusiasts have been culling the lion fish population for a few years, - however you must credit one thing there- and that is that this group of individuals culls all lion fish, regardless of size.
In regard to commercial fisherman, few to no one is going to harvest the small ones, how big will a lion fish need to be to attract the spear of a commercial fisherman? The young, small, non-desireable lion fish will always get left alone to eat a lot of reef fish un-molested before they grow to a size making them a target in these areas.
I’m thinking the fish life will not recover in areas that commercial fisherman are fishing in because they will only be harvesting larger lion fish, the smaller ones will continue to decimate the fish life of those reefs, and therefore you can’t apply the results in the park where (culling) is taking place to what will happen outside the park where (selective) fishing will be going on.