Lots of work to do to bring lionfish under control

The men and women on the frontline of the fight against the invasive lionfish species say that there is still a lot of work to be done if the fish to be brought under control.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT recently, persons who were involved in the June 9 lionfish derby hinted that the approximately 1,000 lionfish, {{more}}weighing a total of 629 pounds, which were caught, were just the tip of the iceberg.

This quantity of fish was caught off the North Leeward coast, between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Fisherman’s Day, with the hunters indicating that if they had more time and did more dives, they would have caught much more.

Vaughn Martin, leader of the victorious Serenity Dive team, indicated that his crew did four dives that day, and caught 293 lionfish weighing 170 pounds in total, and said that more frequent derbies are just one way of curbing the increase of the lionfish in local waters.

“There is so much more to catch…. Hopefully another derby sooner than later would help,” Martin told SEARCHLIGHT.

“It just shows how much lionfish is there and much more than we anticipated. I think even fisheries didn’t expect us to bring in that much.

“I think it is the most concentrated area on the Leeward coast, but I think because we don’t do much dives on the Windward coast, I am quite sure there is more up there as well. We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Martin added.

Kay Wilson, head of Indigo Dive, said that the lionfish should become a more common dish in households and restaurants locally, which would promote the capture of the fish.

Wilson noted that if the quantity of fish dragged from the waters on June 9 were sold for consumption, it would have netted up to $6,000.

“We need to encourage people to eat lionfish and to ask for lionfish when they go to restaurants to create a market.

“It is good for you. It is delicious; once the spine is cut off, you can handle it like any other fish, so ask for it; try it, you are going to like it.

“The market would then encourage other people and create a living, and they can do that every day. And in doing that, they clear the reefs off and then derbies like this can concentrate on areas that are more inaccessible,” Wilson said.(JJ)