My First Lion Fish Meal

[ggunn]

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

I don't think you do. I'm not saying not to kill them; if killing them reduces their numbers in the park (and it appears from anecdotal evidence that it does), then that's reason enough to keep killing them. As Dave says, providing the juvies in the park some protection from them is a great thing to do. I just don't think that doing that will stem the tide of the invasion; it's going to take perpetual policing to keep their numbers depressed in the areas where divers can go.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

Seems to me some of you are missing the point of my post, which was NOT about eradicating them or culling but EATING them.

In answer to your statement:

"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.

We got them all on the first tank of a two-tank dive. We cleaned them during the surface interval and had them cooked up after our dive for lunch.
Not exactly hard work, Gordon.

 

[ggunn]

Seems to me some of you are missing the point of my post, which was NOT about eradicating them or culling but EATING them.

In answer to your statement:


We got them all on the first tank of a two-tank dive. We cleaned them during the surface interval and had them cooked up after our dive for lunch.
Not exactly hard work, Gordon.

But certainly too much per pound to establish lionfish as a commercial food source, which is all I was saying. I don't mean that it's not worth doing on an individual basis; I was replying to the fantasy that some folks seem to have that establishing lionfish as a commercial food source would solve the problem of the infestation. It won't, IMO.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Dear Gordon,

The shoreline of Cozumel that is outside the National Park is pretty well covered by scuba equipped fishermen and as long as we can create a market for lion fish--by eating them in our restaurants--then much of the same control may be extended for rest of the island. And believe me, the lion fish outside the park are large enough to be commercially viable for the fishermen to go after.

And I certainly agree with you that there is no way to eradicate them but I am absolutely convinced that we can control them in the waters of our beautiful island by eating the "other white meat".


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[ggunn]

Dear Gordon,

The shoreline of Cozumel that is outside the National Park is pretty well covered by scuba equipped fishermen and as long as we can create a market for lion fish--by eating them in our restaurants--then much of the same control may be extended for rest of the island. And believe me, the lion fish outside the park are large enough to be commercially viable for the fishermen to go after.

And I certainly agree with you that there is no way to eradicate them but I am absolutely convinced that we can control them in the waters of our beautiful island by eating the "other white meat".


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

Dear Dave,

I am not talking about the diveable part of the reef that is outside the park, but the part of the reef that is too deep for divers to visit. I am talking about the deep nooks and crannies in the reef that lionfish can get in and out of that divers cannot. I am talking about other sections of reef where divers choose not to go for one reason or another. I think that "controlling them" is too strong a term, but I agree that divers can diminish their numbers in the areas where divers go, whether by harvesting them for food or just killing them. I applaud what you guys are doing. I take issue, however with folks that take the diminished number of lionfish out where we can see them as evidence that their population is diminishing in other areas as well and that the "war on lionfish" is being won. I think that just the opposite is true. Accounts I have read from extreme dives down the wall bear that out.

 

[mstevens]

I don't eat lionfish in any hope of diminishing the lionfish population.

I do it for two reasons:

1) Ordering lionfish saves a snapper or grouper, which is probably what I'd order otherwise. Those fish are threatened in many areas.

2) Lionfish are crazy delicious.

 

[cvchief]

Seriously, I gotta get me some lionfish this trip....

 

[jupitermermaid]

I posted the following in another thread this afternoon, but thought it would also serve well on this particular thread:


Today I went out for a 4 tank dive. On the first dive we went to a popular site which we frequent. I caught two lionfish. On the second dive we went to a part of the reef system we haven't been to in quite a while. I killed 10 lionfish, 2 as large as snapper. On the third and fourth dive, we went back to often visited reef areas, where I caught one lionfish on the third dive, and 2 little ones on the fourth that I left behind hoping something will eventually eat them. We may never be able to eradicate this INVASIVE species, but no one can tell me that the small amount of catching we do doesn't make a difference. I will eat well for the next couple of nights!

 

[ggunn]

We may never be able to eradicate this INVASIVE species, but no one can tell me that the small amount of catching we do doesn't make a difference.

No one is telling you that. What I have been saying is that it is my opinion that in order for the numbers of lionfish to stay low in the areas we dive, we'll have to keep killing them.

 

[jupitermermaid]

No one is telling you that. What I have been saying is that it is my opinion that in order for the numbers of lionfish to stay low in the areas we dive, we'll have to keep killing them.

Gordon, I know you're not telling me that, but others have, so I just wanted to quantify. It wasn't a poke at you. I absolutely agree with you that we will have to keep killing them or they will continue to multiply. They will anyway, but since they do taste so good, and commercial fishing of them isn't feasible at this point in time, independent divers killing them and eating them (or trying to get local marine life to eat them) is our best shot at this point in attempting to slow their invasion. I applaud the local eateries that will serve them up to introduce them as food to get the awareness out that they are tasty, but I also know it's not a sustainalbe commercial venture.