Lionfish threat worsens

It's not just that they have no natural predators. The fish in the Caribbean do not understand that this is a predator so they don't flee from it. It's not a fast swimmer. They eat mostly juvenile fish and each lionfish can eat 5,000-10,000 fish a year.

They are eating so much that many are actually getting liver disease. They are fat, which also means the population isn't yet being limited by food supply.

As I mentioned the last time this was brought up, the DR needs to put a bounty on these critters and not worry about using them as a food supply. Even at 10 pesos a fish, I think it would be enough of a motivator for the locals to hunt them. Where they are bad, a guy in snorkel gear could easily catch more than 100 a day with a Hawaiian sling spear and net. As the population hopefully goes down, the bounty could go up to keep the fishermen motivated.

They are everywhere in the Caribbean.. Eating them will be a good solution but I dont think you can get rid of them all. Also seems that the approach is locally.. why not have an international taskforce?

The last thing the DR needs with all the abusive overfishing that goes on here...

It's a case of accelerated natural selection: you can't get rid of them now, and eventually some sort of balance will be established, probably at the cost of some weaker native species. Just like with zebra mussels in North America. At least you can eat this Lionfish.

Here is what it looks like

Evil lurks in beautiful wrapping..

VJS said:

It's a case of accelerated natural selection: you can't get rid of them now, and eventually some sort of balance will be established, probably at the cost of some weaker native species. Just like with zebra mussels in North America. At least you can eat this Lionfish.

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Uh.. no. Invasive species are thought to be the cause of a quarter of current extinctions. Invasives normally have natural predators or other means to keep them in check in their native ranches. Many are hardly noticeable in their native range. It's thought that half of the native species in Hawaii went extinct when humans arrived 1000 years ago and another half of the remaining species went under when the Europeans arrived. They are still very concerned that the Brown Tree snake is going to make it to the island, which has been wrecking havoc on Guam since WWII.

And some species will do so much damage to their new environment that they end up dying out themselves from destroying their food sources. Goats are considered an invasive species on many islands and will breed and eat themselves until there is a population crash. Haiti's fondness for goats is one of the reasons it's so hard to grow any trees. The goats will eat the young trees and those that make it past the goats get cut down for firewood.

PeterInBrat said:

Uh.. no. Invasive species are thought to be the cause of a quarter of current extinctions. Invasives normally have natural predators or other means to keep them in check in their native ranches. Many are hardly noticeable in their native range. It's thought that half of the native species in Hawaii went extinct when humans arrived 1000 years ago and another half of the remaining species went under when the Europeans arrived. They are still very concerned that the Brown Tree snake is going to make it to the island, which has been wrecking havoc on Guam since WWII.

And some species will do so much damage to their new environment that they end up dying out themselves from destroying their food sources. Goats are considered an invasive species on many islands and will breed and eat themselves until there is a population crash. Haiti's fondness for goats is one of the reasons it's so hard to grow any trees. The goats will eat the young trees and those that make it past the goats get cut down for firewood.

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Nice informative post. And exactly what are we supposed to do about it? Humans are the cause of many of these extinctions. What do you suggest?

They've gotten a little better about bringing in species into new countries and there has been some success in control. Given the Lionfish's main defense is its spines, it shouldn't be that impossible to exterpate it from at least local reefs,but it's here to stay. It's a slow moving fish that hangs out in the littoral zones so it's not exactly elusive.

One of my first research papers in Ecology was on feral pigs in the US and it's finally getting a lot more attention including a reality show on hunting them. You can control many invasives, but one thing that makes them invasive is they tend to have short breeding cycles and it can take only a few to get a population going. There are prob big populations of Lionfisn in the Silver Banks and wiping them out from such a big area would be next to impossible. I think they can be manage for individual reefs esp where there are also spear fishermen.

As I've posted, they should put a bounty on these guys, even if it's just 10 pesos each. A single lionfish does a hell of a lot more than ten pesos worth of damage in a year. As humans, we tend to pretty good at wiping out species on our own. In one article I read, I heard that 25% of a lionfish population needs to be killed every month just to keep a population from growing. I think this could be done with fishing rallies where you have contests to see who can get the most by spear in a three hour period and then have the contests in rotation for the various fishing zones. You have to hit pest species HARD to have any impact. It's better to try and wipe out 80% of a population twice a year than than an ongoing campaign that takes out only 10-20% per month. In Ecology, this is called additive vs compensatory mortality.

I might add that this "hit them hard" mentality also works with rats and other vermin. If the DR started a program that had everyone put out rat poison and traps on just the first of the month, the control would be better. A week long program once a few times a year would be even better.

Lionfish diving deeper than thought

In our local paper today Lionfish diving deeper than thought - KeysNet.com

Researchers and wildlife officials worry that lionfish may undo conservation efforts aimed at rebuilding populations of native predators such as groupers and snappers. Lionfish gorge on the young of those species, as well as their prey.

"They can eat pretty much anything that fits inside their mouths," Oregon State University lionfish expert Stephanie Green said.

Divers are encouraged to capture any lionfish they encounter to protect reefs and native marine life already burdened by pollution, over-fishing and the effects of climate change. And last month, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission waived the recreational license requirement for divers harvesting lionfish and excluded them from bag limits, allowing people to catch as many as they can.

Dark_Scorpion said:

Humans are the cause of many of these extinctions. . .

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Speak for yourself. I'm not at all responsible!

Curacaoleno said:

They are everywhere in the Caribbean.. Eating them will be a good solution but I dont think you can get rid of them all. Also seems that the approach is locally.. why not have an international taskforce?

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My post from a previous thread.

"Olivier Michaud from Luper?n has invented a cheap, anyone-can-build lionfish fileting contraption which harvests abundant and poison-free meat that is as good as mero (grouper). His idea is to make lionfish a sought-afer restaurant staple, which will help stabilize its population while allowing the population of its prey to grow back. Go see him."

Have you seen Olivier yet?

DR Orgs fight Lion Fish invasion

If you want to help, or to just better understand the Lion Fish issue, go to Reef Check or HERE to contribute.

Also check out Jos? Alejandro Alverez' photo gallery. Fantastic!