Should lionfish be culled in the Caribbean?

Over the past couple of years, there's been increasing coverage in various dive and nature magazines of lionfish invading the Caribbean waters (introduced by man). They are not a naturally occurring species in these waters and, depending on which point of view you subscribe to, are threating the local species due the their predatory nature.

Should they be actively culled? Why?

If we could cull them completely out of the Atlantic I would be all for it. Introduced species are rarely good news and when it concerns a professional predator without natural enemies it could be bad indeed. However, I wonder it we are just delaying the inevitable. Even if we trained every diver in catching and killing them there would still be so many places that get no diver traffic and they would remain as spawning grounds to repopulate other areas. I hope I am wrong and initiatives by REEF and others can put the genie back in the bottle but, if not, it is a lot of killing.

Bart

Maybe the spearfishers could satisfy their bloodlust (hunting tradition) by shooting tame Lionfish instead of tame Grouper? Could create awhole new sport and save the economy?

Maybe the spearfishers could satisfy their bloodlust (hunting tradition) by shooting tame Lionfish instead of tame Grouper? Could create awhole new sport and save the economy?

Spearfishers in the Caribbean mostly shoot fish for food, and who would trade a grouper for a Lionfish? But as Bart says, even if we gave a spear to every diver in the Caribbean, eradication at this scale is virtually impossible. I am sorry to say that Lionfish is here to stay, the local fauna will just have to get used to it.

Hunting them will not erradicate the problem but will help .

Here in Dominican Republic we have a real problem with overfishing mainly due to lack of a policy of proper fishing methods and the huge presure put by the massive beach tourism ( most tourists want to eat fish and we receive almost 3.5 millions each year ).

Lionfish's meat is really tasty so we are now trying here to train fishermans on how to handle the fish, remove the spines and fillet them .

On May/09 we have a event organized by Reef Check DR on the main diving spots were lots of volunteers will hunt for lionfish and then a big bbq made by recognized chefs of every area will make like a free test for fisherman, local people and tourists . The event will go to the press and tv .

We hope that we can start a market for lionfish meat here .

Spearfishers in the Caribbean mostly shoot fish for food, and who would trade a grouper for a Lionfish? But as Bart says, even if we gave a spear to every diver in the Caribbean, eradication at this scale is virtually impossible. I am sorry to say that Lionfish is here to stay, the local fauna will just have to get used to it.

They are easy to shoot, both with camera and spear and quite tasty from what I hear.

I agree that we will not eradicate them, but maybe we can keep them in check and help the economy along the way.

Mike

I thought a bounty might be a good idea, sort of like the ones that were put on Bison and Wolves. That seemed to be pretty effective. But, the cynic in me says we should have the government create a "Lionfish fishery" and have them manage it. Shouldn't be too long of a time before the whole Lionfish population in the Atlantic collapses from inaccurate estimates and overactive fishery management.

La voila! Problem solved!

a lionfish fishery will only work to eradicate them if we can convince the gullible that the atlantic lionfish has special mythical powers that give enormous endurance and strength to those that eat them (perhaps we can convince people that they migrate annually from the red sea to the caribbean and back). That way you can charge $1000 per filet and they will be found and rooted out from even the most remote parts of the Caribbean.

Bart

I think we could have our cake, and eat it too, if we start the right kind of rumour.

Something along the lines of what Bart had to say in his post.

Let's say, a rumour something like:

Lionfish is really great for increasing libido and virility but only if you eat a number of fillets, and as long as you haven't eaten any shark (both fins or soup) for say, a period of three months. But once you start eating Lionfish, you can't go back to shark if you want to maintain the “effect”. Add in a little psycho-babble about the sharks “ying” being bad for the Lionfishes “yang”, and we get to save the sharks, eradicate an unwanted invasive species, and make a few bucks in the process.

Sounds like a plan to me!

Over the past couple of years, there's been increasing coverage in various dive and nature magazines of lionfish invading the Caribbean waters (introduced by man). They are not a naturally occurring species in these waters and, depending on which point of view you subscribe to, are threating the local species due the their predatory nature.

 

Should they be actively culled? Why?

Absolutely they hould be WIPED OUT, not just culled. I used to do a lot of off shore fishing for snapper, black sea bass, grouper, etc. Over the past 15 years, I have noticed a drastic reduction in what I were catching. Now, if I want fresh fish for dinner, I go to a local fish market and hope for the best. The causes for this reduction are the Lionfish and fisherman not obeying size and number limits on what they caught. Their thinking is, "if I'm paying to go out on a boat, I'm going to keep everything I catch".

The Lionfish have voracious appetites and eat small game fish. Hence a reduction in the game fish population. The female Lionfish is capable of releasing an egg mass of 30,000 eggs every 30-40 days. This egg mass floats along in the Gulf Stream and the the hatchlings will congregate on underwater structure where they grow and eat everything they can. As they are very slow swimmers, due to their dorsal and pectoral spines, they do not move from one structure to another unless it is close in proximity. And by the way, there is no known predator for these nasty fellows. As a result, the Lionfish have populated the North American eastern sea coast as far up as New Jersey. There are now spotted reports of them showing up in the Bahamas as well as some of the Caribbean Islands. On a recent dive trip to Mexico, we saw a few juvenlies, which I dive guide captured.

I have made a number of dives since last year off the North Carolina coast outside of Beaufort. We have collected, live and speared, a couple of hundred Lionfish for NOAA research on wrecks & structure in the 80' to 100' depth. What is most disturbing is that the large mature Lionfish have infested our wrecks and structure in water deeper than 120', as reported by qualified divers at those depths.

So, like I said, they should be wiped out. And by the way, they are a pretty tasty fish also. Just beware of their spines. Feels like a really bad bee sting if you get stung. Hot water, as hot as you can stand, will disipitate the toxin and pain.

Bob

I know about two studies of stomach content analysis of Atlantic lionfish. One from 2010 detected prey from the families Palaemonidae, Penaeidae, Gobidae, Scaridae, Mullidae and Grammatidae, the other from Nov 2009 detected Gobiidae, Labridae, Grammatidae, Apogonidae, Pomacentridae, Serranidae, Blenniidae, Atherinidae, Mullidae, and Monacanthidae. No groupers (Epinephelinidae, sp?) or snappers (lutjanidae). I don't think the decline of large game fish can be attributed to the lionfish, at least not yet.

In contrast, there is actually interesting evidence that Atlantic grouper, including red and nassau grouper, are eating lionfish, including a lionfish of over 13cm. An analysis of 5 nassau grouper found lionfish in the stomachs two and finding this in two out of five suggests that groupers are starting to make the slow-moving lionfish a regular addition to their diet. So maybe protecting groupers can help control lionfish.

... They are not a naturally occurring species in these waters and, depending on which point of view you subscribe to, are threating the local species due the their predatory nature.

 

Should they be actively culled? Why?

There's no "point of view" to subscribe to, they are without a doubt an unbalancing force in the atlantic ecosystems. Here in Bermuda, they began showing up in noticeable numbers about 6 or 7 years ago. The first major sign of trouble came from the collector of species for the local aquarium. Upon returning to certain spots where he had been collecting juvenile fish for 12 years, he would find a lionfish and no juveniles at all. I personally have seen one whoof down every juvenile fish in a rocky alcove withing 10-15mins. Its the juvenile reef fish they're eating, and the effect of this will not be seen for some time.

Following this, the aquarium collector instigated a culling program allowing scuba divers, after attending a training course, to be licensed to carry spears for lionfish. (spearfishing on scuba is otherwise illegal here). We know we'll never eradicate them, but with the dive shops involved we have a decent layer of culling in effect to keep the numbers down.

Absolutely they hould be WIPED OUT, not just culled. I used to do a lot of off shore fishing for snapper, black sea bass, grouper, etc. Over the past 15 years, I have noticed a drastic reduction in what I were catching. Now, if I want fresh fish for dinner, I go to a local fish market and hope for the best. The causes for this reduction are the Lionfish and fisherman not obeying size and number limits on what they caught. Their thinking is, "if I'm paying to go out on a boat, I'm going to keep everything I catch"....

 

...As a result, the Lionfish have populated the North American eastern sea coast as far up as New Jersey. There are now spotted reports of them showing up in the Bahamas as well as some of the Caribbean Islands. On a recent dive trip to Mexico, we saw a few juvenlies, which I dive guide captured.

 

...

Bob

Bob, I find it hard to believe that lionfish are eating all your game fish. Perhaps some of the juveniles along with many other species. I'm pretty sure its the fisherman responsible for the significant reduction in numbers.

Also, not sure where you've gotten your info, but they've been in the Caribbean for some time now. The Bahamas are the worst hit of anywhere. Its practically in crisis mode from the reports i've been hearing. The guy who started our culling program went to the Bahamas to see the situation there for himself and learn about their culling efforts. They were catching 20-30 lionfish each on a single dive. There was a tournament held in the Bahamas last year where 1408 lionfish were caught by 19 boats in 6 hours. We were just diving in Little Cayman and we were seeing them on every other dive, with the DM's collecting them.

BTW they are really tasty. Cheers,

Chris

Here is Mini Me at Little Cayman being fed:

GO MINI Me!!!!!!

Yes, post a bounty.

There is no way that the introduction of Lionfish has led to the lowering in numbers of your catch... you may need to back a few years more and think of the introduction of humans to the americas.

Its overfishing by humans of fish with slow reproduction, high reproductive ages and long gestation periods that caused the drop in catch.

Heres an idea though... make them a protected species in the caribbean (but dont tell pacific islanders cos this may have adverse effects). This would quickly raise their 'black market value' and then locals would actively hunt them to sell on said black market! It would also take the pirates efforts away from other truly protected species such as sharks... oh wait... the UN decided not to act on shark protection...

Olly