Do You Really Feel Like Getting Stung by a Lionfish?

[Louis Rossignol]

Tony, I really have been wanting to state my opinion for several months now on the Lionfish subject, but after reading your post today, I finally got the lead out of my ass.

Below is what I wrote to my reader group. Like it or not, it's the way I feel.

In late December of 2010 I saw my first Lionfish at 110' on GI 76, I think I may have been the first one to ever see one on a rig, probably because no one in their right mind would have been out there at that time of the year. During the 2011 summer several of us have seen quite a few on different platforms and we even had a competition for who could get the most, with a $100.00 prize. We generated so much interest that only one Lionfish was brought in, and, by the guy that put up the $100.00.

Well last week, I dove Dec. 28-29-30, and I have to say, I saw an explosion of these pesky little critters all over the rigs I dove on both sides of the river. The first one I saw was in West Delta's dirty water, on my first dive of the 3 day marathon. I was running my had down the pipe so I wouldn't lose the rig and at about 40' I almost put my hand on one that was verticle on the corner rig leg of all places. Many rigs during those 3 days had decks with 10 or more Lionfish on them.

In Florida there is some sentiment that the divers will volunteer to help with population reduction.

Personally, I don't see myself doing any volunteer work for a Government Agency that has been screwing me for the past 25+ years. And whether most of you do it maliciously or involuntarily, you will follow the same path as myself.

Scenario; Red Snapper season is CLOSED - Gag Grouper is CLOSED - Amberjack is CLOSED, Yeah!!! let's go put 150 gallons of fuel in the boat at over $3.00 a gallon, run offshore for 25+mi. in rough seas all to swim down 100-150' and risk being stung by a Lionfish so we can look good in the eyes of a Federal Agency that has thumbed their noses at us for all those years.

It's already been proven, working within the system DOES NOT work, that's why Myself and several other made the trek to Washington DC to tell our Congressmen and Senators that the people mismanaging our fisheries need to be removed.

Look at the bright side, this blows a hole right in the Environmental Defense Plan of selling all fishing rights to one monopoly and only the highest bidders are able to eat fish. I can't wait until Shrimp Trawlers get a couple hundred pounds of Lionfish in their trawls. This is our Katrina, our BP, and the clever people managed to turn that into oportunity.

I say we give the Gulf Council, NMFS, NOAA or whoever our demands.

Simple; as DIVERS, we want open season year round on Red Snapper, Grouper, and Amberjack. We all know those fish aren't in trouble. We also want to be able to collect a bounty on the Lionfish we bring back to the dock, I think $25.00 per Lionfish should be fair, after all, we'll be swimming down over 100' to collect them, risking life and limb.

If the Fedral Agency's really want to regulate a sustainable fishery like they advertise, they should really want to do something about the Lionfish Explosion.

this is my personal opinion, and doesn't reflect that of the LCUDC, Hell Divers or spearfishermen in general, yet!

Louis Rossignol

[elcaptainq]

just my opinion but on the lionfiah subject I highly doubt the government would ever hand out 25 dollars a fish. but I could be wrong. has there been recent precedent in the past 30 years or so for the government paying people to help kill invasive species?

[Louis Rossignol]

just my opinion but on the lionfiah subject I highly doubt the government would ever hand out 25 dollars a fish. but I could be wrong. has there been recent precedent in the past 30 years or so for the government paying people to help kill invasive species?

They pay us to kill Nutria over here, started out at $7.00 a tail, now it's about $5.00 a tail. I got a buddy that kills about 2000 a night.

[Smudge]

They pay us to kill Nutria over here, started out at $7.00 a tail, now it's about $5.00 a tail. I got a buddy that kills about 2000 a night.

That's pretty rad...

[elcaptainq]

that's absolutely ridiculous. how often does he go

[KILLIAN]

call me sick in the head but where can i buy a huge shipment of tails like that? i believe i have just discovered the ultimate prank.

[Louis Rossignol]

Y'all need to focus here.:D

[SteveK]

Don't kill them for the government. Kill them for the health of the ecosystem of the fish that are your target species. If lionfish continue proliferate, their population will have an adverse effect on the fish you regularly hunt. Many juvenile reds, aj's, and gags will be eaten before they get out of the juvenile stage of development by a predator that has almost no predators at this point. You have to look at the bigger picture. I know it sucks.

[AndrewK]

call me sick in the head but where can i buy a huge shipment of tails like that? i believe i have just discovered the ultimate prank.

:toast:

[los mentirosos]

Don't kill them for the government. Kill them for the health of the ecosystem of the fish that are your target species. If lionfish continue proliferate, their population will have an adverse effect on the fish you regularly hunt. Many juvenile reds, aj's, and gags will be eaten before they get out of the juvenile stage of development by a predator that has almost no predators at this point. You have to look at the bigger picture. I know it sucks.
I think you're missing Rok's point. All the species you are mentioning have seasons closed on them. The Red Snapper are getting so big out my way there will soon be nothing else left. You can't even drift ribbon fish for Kingfish without catching Red Snapper.

[slingshaft]

~~ "Ya'll need to focus here" Roc, will you consider running for President of the United States?

[elcaptainq]

well I still want my question answered. I'm gonna fly out there once a month and kill a thousand of em. make some money

[Bdog]

They use to pay us $1.00 per tail for prairie dog tails in New Mexico. A fun way to spend the day and make some gas money at the same time! Lion fish are risky to collect also so I agree there should be a little healthier payment for you guys. They definitely better do something to make it worth peoples time before it becomes a real problem.

[anthropisces]

My friend has seen them at 500' in a sub. There is no putting this cat back in the bag.

[hydroid]

I really think our fisheries management has been mis-managed, the very year they started these snapper limits was my best year fishing. The oyster buisness in Alabama was destroyed years ago. When the snapper season was open year round you could get a decent price for your fish and now when the season opens the price falls because the market is flooded, just like the mullet. Just glad I'm not a commercial fisherman anymore. You can't target nothing else because the snapper jump on your hook so fast nowadays. OK, I was'nt going to be negative today until I saw this post, he he.

[ny_er]

Nutria hunting in Louisiana - YouTube

[ShipFaced]

Nutria hunting in Louisiana - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxCL1EYyqrI)

rofl well thats one way to make a living.

[Shark Byte]

You don't have to go deep to get lionfish anymore, they are in 10 feet or less, its sad. I got a small pole spear just for them, don't want to eat them, just kill them. What a state of affairs we have left our kids. The fisheries management of Florida has been a joke.

[Ursus]

Lionfish sting hurts like being stung by stingray. I have experience with both. Lionfish tastes great and worth shooting....buy a little 2' pole spear (Leisurepro for $24) and use a tennis ball to cover the trident tips while swimming around or transporting it. If you get stung apply heat (get some of the chemical heating packs used for snow skiiing - "Hot Hands" or the like in case of a hit.

Cozumel is great example of what happens and how quickly it goes from seeing only maybe one lionfish on a dive to seeing dozens per dive within a year. There is a bounty for the divers to kill them. A year after the government posted open season on the lionfish the local divers put a dent into their population... only problem is that the fish are being culled only where people are diving. This means there are alot of open breeding grounds. I killed plenty of big ones +15" and 2-4 lbs in +150 water. We have seen them on deep dives +400'. Once they are established there is no way to totally remove them.

Thoughts on rig environment is that there may be enough big predators to eat the lionfish. Also they are terrible swimmers with all the accessory fins dangling so maybe this retards their numbers. This might keep their population down. If you see them kill them or within a year they will have eaten and bred enough that all local fingerling size fish are gone off a site. Once small fingerling reef fish are gone there is nothign to clean the coral. Once the bottom rung of food chain is gone it is short order before a collapse of everythign above it.

Take it seriously. It is devastating to see sections of reef devastated. You can tell where there are lionfish on a reef...

[kendo]

just my opinion but on the lionfiah subject I highly doubt the government would ever hand out 25 dollars a fish. but I could be wrong. has there been recent precedent in the past 30 years or so for the government paying people to help kill invasive species?

Well the Nutria is a good example of bountys being placed on invasives in the south. Up north in Washington and Oregon there's a bounty for the Northern Pikeminnow (formerly known as squawfish) in the lower Columbia River. One big difference is the Pikeminnow isn't an invasive species. Yep they're native. I believe the reason for the bounty is that the Pikeminnow feed heavily on the salmon and steelhead smolt and have an un-natural advantage by the creation of many reserviors and dams on the Columbia River.

I tried going after them once and only caught one and it just didn't seem worth it. When I went to a reservoir on a different river I couldn't keep them off my hook. Too bad the bounty is only for the Columbia. Perhaps spearfishing would be a more effective tactic?

http://www.pikeminnow.org/info.html

Ken

[skicat7]

OK I visit the Virgin Islands quite often and have noticed that the lion fish is all over. The good thing is the government has not put a season on it and most dive boats will let you shoot them. Oh and did I mention that they are very good eatin. I shoot everyonr I see and bring the "breeders" home for dinner.

[Coral Sniper]

It still amazes's me that Lion fish are out of control in your waters. Don't you have eel's and puffers in your waters? I would think they would go at them or at least when the lions are young.

I see a lion about every other dive here. Must be our eel's that keep them in check?

You would think that the lion fish demand for aquarium pets could be met by americans instead of importing from our regions. But I bet there are so many laws out there that a guy could not make a business out of it in the states.

[SpearMax]

It still amazes's me that Lion fish are out of control in your waters. Don't you have eel's and puffers in your waters? I would think they would go at them or at least when the lions are young.

I see a lion about every other dive here. Must be our eel's that keep them in check?

You would think that the lion fish demand for aquarium pets could be met by americans instead of importing from our regions. But I bet there are so many laws out there that a guy could not make a business out of it in the states.

It is not clear how they are kept in check in the Pacific.

The scientists I talk with say it is probably predation at the juvenile lionfish stage in the Pacific.

Aquarists here do collect them for resale. But now there are far too many.

They are everywhere. It is a very serious problem.

[arice]

Coral sniper, it's the age-old case of an invasive species getting out of control because it is outside the context of its natural ecosystem, ie. Cane toads in Australia, Burmese pythons in the Everglades, or kudzu in the American south. The tropical Pacific, as you note, has predators that evolved eating lion fish, so they're kept in check. The Caribbean predators aren't evolved to deal with venomous, stinging fish like that and have plenty of other things to eat, too. It's a drag.

[causemanot]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this site and i thought that this topic was a good one to "wet my feet." Not sure if this is still going on but i thought it could be used to sway hearts and minds here in the states for a lion fish bounty.

http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=8189

they are paying 50$ a fish.

Edit: ok, with a little extra research, that is over. But local fisheries are offering prices for them (like 8$ a lb) to thin out the species.(They will also prepare and cook one for you for free if you bring it in.) They stopped offering the 50$ because they have all of the samples they needed and there are just to many now.

[gatorbrown2]

Just some recent info on lion fish numbers.. My friend a commercial diver spent last week underwater sat diving the Matterhorn rig in the Mississippi canyon. The rig is in 2600 ft of water but he spent the week at 60 ft rigging stuff as needed.. He said there were a large number of sharks and in the platform there were lion fish every where. He estimated nearly 200.. They climb around without swimming and had to look before changing their grip.. Fortunately the vis was 100ft and he could see them all over place. He grew up in the south pacific and has seen many before but never in this concentration .. The genie is out of the bottle ., this is probably worse than nutria with no way to control it. ::scratch::scratch::scratch:

[mjmoore83]

I hate those damn things. I live in South Carolina, our water temperatures in the winter time can be in the low 50'sF offshore. We see a lot of them in water deeper than 90ft. I do not see to many of them on the wrecks around here becuase in the Carolinas everyone wants to dive wrecks. I assume people are killing them on charters. Everyone dives wrecks out here, it's kinda what we are known for. And giant goliath hogfish! My point is there are lionfish everywhere on every hard bottom I dive. Ledges, rocky bottom, rolls, coral heads; any kind of hard bottom and they are just everywhere. I do not want to waste them but I do not have the time to collect them. I am commercial diving but if I can make money on them; I will be more than glad to bring some back. I have killed some where their body was like a football; not including their fins.

[mjmoore83]

:lol: And my message thing on the bottom says " kill only what you are going to eat" Lionfish are the exception because I know how they can destroy a reef. I think I would kill a nutra and not eat that bigass rat thing too.

[ReefRyder617]

Ill be a rich man if they put a bounty on those nasty things.

[agbiv]

Nutria makes good stew--try it sometime but defat it after browning. Now possum is a different story--survival only.

[Drunkswimmer]

Quid Pro Quo? Not sure if i remember my latin spelling.. but This For that?

How about this.... to open the door. For every Lionfish you bring in, you are entitled to bring in a closed season species fish as well. One dead lionfish = 1 tasty snapper. The snapper managament is REDICULOUS.... Just today I went out and caught 3 TROLLING my honey hole rig before we started diving. Luckily in Texas "State Waters" we can keep 4/day year round.

[bracmon]

It is not clear how they are kept in check in the Pacific.

The scientists I talk with say it is probably predation at the juvenile lionfish stage in the Pacific.

Aquarists here do collect them for resale. But now there are far too many.

They are everywhere. It is a very serious problem.



something about a fungus or desease that affects thier eggs(why they produce so many). In the PO very little eggs servive, in the AO and Carib there isn't anything killing off the eggs so they bread like crazy.

they taste good though