Culebra Puerto Rico Report

I just got back from a month and a half long visit to Culebra PR. One of goals was to do research on the lionfish problem there. Here is what I found. The scuba divers in the area reported that there were lionfish everywhere in 60 ft of water. In fact one local dive charter is starting to bring in lionfish to the dinghy dock restaurant to serve on their menu (good news). I conducted my own research all around the island by putting on my own mask and snorkel and was surprised to find only five lionfish, three juvenile and two adult. I dove from the shoreline to 500 yards out, from three feet of water to fifty feet and found NOTHING. There was plenty of small fish on the reefs to support a decent population of lionfish yet they were nowhere to be found. I can only attribute this to the presence of CORNET FISH. Cornet fish were everywhere. It is the only fish that Puerto Ricans do not hunt therefore they are thriving. Lionfish don't have a chance with these guys around. I imagine that they hunt the juvenile lionfish because their mouths are pretty small. They seem pretty aggressive hunters. I don't know much about them but perhaps they hold the key to bringing the lionfish problem under control. Somebody please look into this.

Eleutheras first lionfish derby

Please join Rainbow Inn in this great cause.

New Caribbean Report

Hola fellow lion fish hunters, We are a dive shop on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. The lion fish have really tried to take over here. Our fellow dive shops have been able to kill many, but until the resident Dominicans choose to eat them, it will be for naught. Look for us at superiordivesosua.com. There is a facebook link there. Here is a photo that we took 5 days ago. 33 lion fish on 1 dive, 3 divers. Chuck Ceccarelli Superior Dive Sosua

Grand Cayman Lionfish Safari

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Jackie Sayet, Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink

786-282-8797, Jackie@michaelsgenuine.com

Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink and Ambassador Divers Launch Genuine Lionfish Safari Package

Keep Grand Cayman’s Waters Safe from Invasive Fish – and Eat Dinner, Too.

Grand Cayman, CI – July 11, 2011 – Hungry for adventure? There’s a delicious solution to combat lionfish - an invasive fish species threatening the marine ecosystem off Grand Cayman’s shores: Eat them! Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Camana Bay and Ambassador Divers have exclusively partnered on a new Lionfish Safari package offering parties of up to six guests at a time the opportunity to join professional Divemasters and instructors in the hunt to spearfish lionfish on the open water. Divers will "spot" lionfish over the course of two dives, while staff members spear and collect them. Upon returning from the outing, the freshly-caught lionfish will be cleaned and delivered to executive chef Thomas Tennant at the restaurant, where the group will meet later that evening to feast on the morning’s catch – all the while stemming the proliferation of this voracious predator.

“Lionfish Safari is a great opportunity for diners to help save the reefs and enjoy a delicious, spontaneous meal,” says executive chef Thomas Tennant. “At the same time, they get to see – and be – the very source of the main ingredient.”

In the Caribbean, Indo Pacific Red Lionfish have no natural predators; they are skilled at out-competing the native species like the Nassau grouper and are eating an unsustainable amount of juvenile reef fish. A single adult female can lay as many as 30,000 eggs every four days. Native to the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean, the fish is said to have been accidentally released in the Carolinas and for the past several years has been invading the waters off the Florida Keys and Cayman Islands. Since 2008, the Cayman Islands have been fighting these glutinous eaters as they prey on the fish that maintain the health of the Islands’ reefs.

“Stings from the spines of the red lionfish’s dorsal fin are rarely fatal, but can be uncomfortable and cause nausea so they must be handled by licensed fishermen,” explains Jason Washington of Ambassador Divers. “The good news is that it is completely safe to consume once the venomous spines are carefully removed. The Lionfish Safari will help keep the population under control to preserve the health and beauty of the reefs, all the while providing fun and adventure.”

For two days before the much anticipated Taste of Cayman culinary event this past January, more than 100 divers assembled by Washington, in partnership with the Department of the Environment, to remove what amounted to 300 pounds of lionfish meat. Using the catch the main ingredient for his event tasting station, chef Tennant prepared Lionfish Escabeche, Cayman-style, with roasted tomato, Worcestershire, pickled vegetables, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, scallion, and cilantro.


In recognition of its efforts, Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink Grand Cayman received a Certificate for Environmental Conservation Efforts from the Taste of Cayman Committee. Since then, Tennant and Washington have posted WANTED notices encouraging divers to catch the lionfish and deliver it to the restaurant for a ransom.

“I was thrilled when Jason approached us with the safari idea, because we’ve had great feedback from our customers since Taste, as I try new lionfish preparations,” explains Tennant. “I’m excited to have a new fish to work with that also helps preserve the local environment. We’re always looking for ways to get more product in-house, so when we can connect with customers and educate them in a fun and engaging way, too, it’s a win, win.”

The excursion can be booked any day of the week excluding Fridays by calling Ambassador Divers at 345.949-4530 or 345.916.1064. Guests will be picked up from their hotel at 7:45 a.m., returning to the dock at noon. Price is US $1,200 for up to 6 people, which includes a privately-chartered boat, tanks, all dive gear, and a multi-course meal that same evening at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink with a champagne toast.

Guests will discover their custom dinner menu upon arrival. From a chef’s point of view, lionfish is a versatile and easy fish to work with, friendly to many styles of preparation. Like snapper, it has a nice, thin skin, which when left on, pan-fries and sears crisp; remove the skin and toss in tempura batter for a light deep fry or in citrus juice for ceviche. Fried and pickled in vinegar for escabeche is very good, too – even simply seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil in the restaurant’s wood-burning oven.

About Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink

James Beard Award-winning chef/owner Michael Schwartz shares his passion for where food comes from at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Miami and Grand Cayman. This neighborhood bistro with a refreshing combination of laid-back atmosphere and seriously good food is the ultimate showcase for the type of cuisine that Schwartz does best – homemade, unpretentious, delectable, with an emphasis on great local ingredients. Menus change daily because they start with what’s in season and arriving on the doorstep from local farmers, fishermen, and ranchers. From there, it’s about letting the ingredients speak for themselves when they hit the table. The island restaurant is located at 47 Forum Lane, Suite 4103, Canella Court at Camana Bay and is open for lunch and dinner daily. Happy Hour features drink specials, Monday through Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Call 345.640.6433 to book a reservation. Find the restaurant online at www.michaelsgenuine.com, @MGFD_GCM on Twitter and on Facebook.

About Ambassador Divers

Ambassador Divers was founded in 1992 at the Ambassador Inn in South Sound. The company was purchased by Jason Washington of Arkansas, USA and Richie Bird of Liverpool, England in the year 2000. These two dive enthusiasts realized their dream of a dive operation focused on small groups and personalized service. After Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the Ambassador Inn did not survive however the dive operation is still going strong! In 2008 Ambassador Divers moved to their current location at the Comfort Suites conveniently located right next door the Marriot on Seven Mile Beach. For more information visit www.ambassadordivers.com or call 345.949-4530 or 345.916.1064

North Carolina Update

I am a Lionfish hunter as well here in North Carolina. Unfortunately we have to go about 25 miles out and 120’ – 140’ deep to get to them. I have great system so I can get 25 to 40 fish in two 15 minute dives (well as long as the Sharks stay away).

BTW My recipe: I like to put a large shrimp followed by a chunk of Lionfish on a skewer and dip it in a Beer Batter or Pancake Batter then roll it Coconut. Refrigerate for 30 min then deep fry. For the dipping sauce us 1 cup Orange or Mango marmalade with 1 tbl of a Caribbean Hot Sauce.

Regards,

Josh Burns

Bahamas Update

Went snorkeling today in Bottom Harbour, N Eleuthera. There are several small patch reefs between Bottom Harbour Club and Cistern Cay a few hundred feet from shore. Everyone, no matter how small had at least 1 lionfish and several single rock reefs had 3 of them. We saw in total 12 to 15 size varied from very small 3inch to about 8 inch.

I know you can't use spear guns in the Bahamas, but can you use them to shot lionfish?

Thanks for your blog,

Mike Harris

letter from NOAA's Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Dear Lionfish Hunter,
Thank you for raising awareness about the issue of invasive lionfish! I work for NOAA's Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary where we have been working closely with the dive community since before the first lionfish was captured in the Keys in Jan 2009. With our local partners we have trained almost 300 divers in safe handling and collection techniques, and continue to train individuals and support diver-based control efforts.

I thought you, and possibly your blog readers, might be interested in the second annual Florida Keys lionfish tournaments which are kicking off in three weeks. Last year the inaugural series of three round-ups captured more than 660 lionfish — the largest of which was ~12" and the smallest ~5cm. Your blog post from Nov 2010 links to the Wall Street Journal article on tournaments last year.

I would greatly appreciate any help you could provide in spreading the word about these tournaments.

The press release on the 2011 derbies may be found online at http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/press/2011/pr041911.html
Photos from last year's Key West derby may be downloaded from http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/weeklynews/nov10/lionfish-hunt.html
Video from last year's Key West derby may be downloaded from http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/weeklynews/apr11/2011lionfishhunt.html

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) invite divers to participate in the Second Annual Florida Keys Lionfish Derby Series.

May 14, 2011: Fiesta Key Resort, Long Key, FL
August 20, 2011: Coconuts Restaurant, Key Largo, FL
November 5, 2011: Hurricane Hole Marina and Restaurant, Key West, FL

For more information, or to register online, visit http://www.reef.org/lionfish/derbies. Registration for teams of up to four divers is $120, and gets you a pair of puncture resistant gloves or a clear dry bag, and two awards banquet tickets.

Prizes for the top three teams in each category:

Most lionfish: $1,000 cash, $500 cash, $250 Divers Direct Gift Certificate
Biggest lionfish: $500 cash, $200 cash, $100 Divers Direct Gift Certificate
Smallest lionfish: $500 cash, $200 cash, $100 Divers Direct Gift Certificate

All lionfish must be captured from the waters of the sanctuary on the day of the derby. Mandatory captains’ meeting held the evening prior to each derby will feature a briefing on safe capture and handle techniques. The derby will conclude with a lionfish tasting and awards banquet. View derby rules online athttp://www.reef.org/reef_files/2011FLKeysDerbyRules.pdf

Local hotels and boat rental companies are offering discounts to lionfish derby participants. For discounts for the May 14 derby, visithttp://www.reef.org/lionfish/derbies/MiddleKeysInfo

Safe diving and thanks again for bringing attention to this invasive fish,
Karrie

--  ----------------------------------------------- Karrie Carnes Communications Coordinator Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (NOAA) 305-809-4700 x236 (w) 305-304-0179 (c) 305-293-5011 (f) www.floridakeys.noaa.gov www.facebook.com/floridakeysnoaagov

Cayman Island lionfish news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9477235.stm

New lionfish blogger

http://savingtheatlanticreefs.blogspot.com/

Killing Lionfish in Roatan, Honduras

My name is Forrest Phillips. I am one of the owners of Southern Skin Divers Supply in Birmingham, AL. Southern Skin Divers Supply is one of the original SCUBA businesses in the United States (est. 1953). We teach people to dive and run dive trips every week all over the world. Just last week we took 18 divers to the Islands of Utila and Roatan, Honduras. I was personally able to do 21 dives during the week. Our group was really there to pleasure dive and take photos but once we saw how the Lionfish have virtually taken over, we started to kill them. Just last year, on this same trip, we saw only about a dozen Lionfish. The diving here last year was some of the best we have experienced in the Caribbean. This year the diving was average and we saw over 200 Lionfish. My opinion is that the Lionfish have a lot to do with the diminished quality of diving here. We killed just over 100 of them. We dined on them 3 times, twice having ceviche and once a tasty Lionfish Pizza.

Lionfish in St. Croix, USVI Story

I recently went back home to the virgin islands after a hiatus for school and such. It was the first time I had been back in a year and was surprised to see lionfish roaming the reefs. I had heard that they had a arrived but my father and others hadn't seen them yet. Long story short is I am appalled to see how effective their invasion has been, and have recently taken up the hobby of eradicating them (I am happy to hear that they are good to eat and next time I am down will have to cook some up).

I was only down for 5 days for spring break and am 4/7 in my endeavor, on the two dives I brought my spear. Enclosed is the photos of three I brought back to the dock, the other one swam off my spear while I was hunting its brother. Those three were found at 80 feet on the westend of St. Croix North of Sandy Point and the other 4 were found at ~20 feet on the Westend South of Ham's Bluff. I did find 4-5 more at 60 feet in front of the RCA building on the reef with the fiber cables, but didn't have my spear on that dive.

It scares me to see them so well distributed in the water column, and to hear storys of a diver nabbing ~50 of them in one outing on the Southside of the island. Overall the reef looked very healthy am just hoping that the next time I go back it will still be as healthy.

-Stephen

New Lionfish Record Shatters Old Record

Congratulations to Robert Straney from Port Canaveral, Florida for having the new lionfishhunter.com world record lionfish. This fish measured in at 19 inches in length. Here is his story:

It was Monday, January 31, 2011, my first dive trip of the year. My dive buddies and I decided to head out of Port Canaveral Florida, our home port, in search of lobster and whatever legal fish we could find. It was my 3rd dive of the day and I needed two more lobster to complete my 6 lobster limit. They are kinda sparse this time of year and each dive can be hit or miss. I was cruising along in about 80 foot of water, south of Pelican Flats, when I saw this Lion fish nosed into a v-shaped crevice. First let me say, I have never killed a lionfish, I am far from being an authority on them, and clueless as to what qualifies as a "Big One". I just learned they are a nuisance fish and as divers we are expected to "kill them on site". So I decided what the heck, I've got plenty of air, guess I'll whack one of these things. Luckily, he was somewhat rocked up, allowing for an easy kill shot to the head with my pole spear. After a few shakes back and forth, he was done. He floated out and up to the surface where one of my dive buddies recovered him for me. He only retrieved it because he know's a little bit about them and thought it could be a record. When I got him home, he measured right at 19 inches. Fortunately, the shot to the head didn't completely penetrate the fish but was enough to kill him and leave him almost perfectly intact. I've contacted a local taxidermist and plan to have him mounted along with another smaller one a buddy of mine shot on the same day.

The challenge is still open to beat Robert's record. KEEP HUNTING LIONFISH

New York Times articles

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610721532882174.html?KEYWORDS=lionfish

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/new-weapon-against-invading-fish-the-pan/

Jamaica has Lionfish

Here is a recent story by Erin Burge of Coastal Carolina University:

The spear was homemade by a staff member at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab, Omar Spence. It was a Hawaiian sling style handle (short PVC tube) ziptied to an old piece of rubber tubing. The spear itself was a piece of aluminum conduit. The spear points were 4-5 prongs of heavy gauge stainless steel plugged into the end with a piece of old car tire.

The story for these pictures:

Every year I lead a 2.5 week trip to Discovery Bay, Jamaica, for undergraduates at Coastal Carolina University. While there the students take a coral reef ecology class (http://www.ecologyofcoralreefs.com) and participate in research projects that they devise (with faculty guidance). Our school has been going to Discovery Bay Marine Lab for 25 years, and I have been involved with the program since 2007. In 2007, we didn't see any lionfish on the shallow reefs of the north shore of Jamaica (see the map at the above site). On our local hardbottom dives off of SC and NC lionfish are very abundant at some sites (see my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qngZBYHlznQ). During class in May 2008 we found 1 lionfish on a deep wall dive, west of DBay. In 2009 we encountered lionfish frequently (I saw saw them on 16 or 17 dives of the 40 I did). By 2010 we saw multiple individuals on EVERY dive at EVERY dive site. A partner and I removed many of the fish we encountered, but there were always more at the sites we visited infrequently. I kept fin clips and length data for these fish to send to NOAA. The largest fish we killed was 370 mm (14 1/2 in) and the smallest was 85 mm (3 1/3 in). I have seen much larger fish locally off of SC and NC. I plan to a research project (pending funding) to examine age, growth, and feeding ecology of Jamaica lionfish in May 2011. We'll need money to buy a few more pole spears, some needle-stick gloves and a better microscope. The reefs of this part of Jamaica are severely overfished, and the addition of lionfish is likely to exacerbate this problem. A pair of fish we speared at about 90' on the west forereef at DBay was herding small reef fishes into an overhanging crevice to devour them. Upon dissection they were packed with small fishes. We saved the fish we speared over a couple of weeks and the kitchen staff prepared a meal of escoveitch fish (http://eatjamaican.com/recipes/escoveitchedfish-recipe.html) for us that fed 14 people with leftovers.

Thanks!

Erin Burge

What do Cosumel and Eleuthera have in common?

LIONFISH INVASION. I just recently received lionfish sitings from Cosumel Mexico and Eleuthera Bahamas.

Cosumel: Tim, from Louisiana, was able to kill 17 lionfish at Medio reef before the captain of the dive boat made him stop. From what I understand, the government of Mexico frowns on the killing of lionfish.

John, from North Carolina (up in the hills), was on vacation in the south end of Eleuthera. He was diving a reef at about 45 ft down and noticed hundreds around this one reef head. He caught a lobster, discarded the head, and within minutes he noticed around 60 lionfish hovering around the head. The lionfish had already depleted the juvenile fish around the reef and were ready to devour anything else.

These stories prove to me that the lionfish problem is already out of control. I can not believe we are not taking greater action to eradicate this fish. PLEASE promote the killing and eating of lionfish.

Vacation Bob sends in his lionfish story: Went to Majahual Mx for the Jatsa Ja Celebration Aug 11-15, as part of the Celebration they held a lion fish tournament. 127 Lionfish were collected in total, our group of 5 divers got 32 in 4 hours. The largest being 34cm in length. We dropped at 106' and within the 3rd minute we had spotted a group of 12 lions. at minute 9, we were on our way to 80' with 12 Lionfish in the bag! The average size was over 20 cm, with several near 30! We took the boat out maybe 200yards from shore, and dropped to 106' working our way toward shore into shallower depths. The large lion fish seem to be between 80 & 110' In this location of few divers, it seems as though there are more lionfish than bottom time to collect them. As you leave the depths, you can still see lionfish!! We discoverd with the addition of the new Paralyzing tip, you can shoot a lionfish, leave it on your ELF tool and shoot another! Yes, two lionfish at one time,,,, AMAZING We call them safaris and we had a blast, and did some real good, worked with a non profit eco group.too.

new report from Providenciales

We just returned from a three dave trip in Providenciales July 7,8,9. And when we dove west Cay, my son and I found 12 full grown lionfish. It would have been nice if we could have captured the buggers.

I did talk to the dive boat dive master(Caicos Adventures) about the large amount of LF and he said some dive operators were licensed to take the LF but they were not..

This looks like a good place for a LF round up.

Robert Polasek

Here is a picture we took.

Zach Timmons has a new lionfishhunter.com record lionfish

We have a new winner in our quest to find out who can get the largest lionfish on record for the lionfishhunter.com challenge. Zach Timmons has beat the previous record by 2 1/2". here is his account:

These fish seem to be everywhere now. Crazy that they have spread so fast. Never ate any because the snapper were biting so well. I will try them next year. This is a giant one for us. Most of the ones we shot were about half this size. Thanks for your interest. Let me know if there is a record keeping for fish for the Bahama chain. I fish down there every year somewhere. Love it. Capt. Frank Timmons

Keep killing those lionfish an submit your findings here. Hey Capt. Timmons, how deep was this one?

CATCH CLEAN & COOK LIONFISH

I should let everyone know that prior to eating my first Lionfish I was very apprehensive about it. I know that I, like many others, thought, "Am I going to eat an aquarium fish that has venomous spines? Will this poison me?" These are reasonable fears, but after much research, through both the internet and interviews with leading experts, I came to realize that the Lionfish is a common table food in many parts of the world and that even scientists at NOAA are now eating them. This research led me to take the plunge and now Lionfish is my main food source from the sea.

You too can safely catch, prepare and enjoy this delicious fish by following these few steps.

CATCHING THE FISH:

All that you need to catch a Lionfish is snorkeling gear, gloves and a spear.

The best way to catch a Lionfish is by spearing them.

Lionfish are normally found close to rock or reef croppings, so bottom fishing for Lionfish could lead to many snagged hooks.

Lionfish do not normally hide under rocks, they are almost always out in the open and easily visible.

Lionfish do not spook easily, so get as close as you can before you make your shot. I wait until my spear tip is 3-4 inches away from the fish before I make my shot, making it a guaranteed hit.

Once you've speared the fish, make sure to keep it at the end of your spear until you can place it on your boat. In the case that you don't have a boat, put the fish in a custom bag or stringer that would not allow the spines to sting you. Be careful not to point your spear upwards because the Lionfish can slide down and sting you.

CLEANING THE FISH:

Once the fish has died, the venom in the spines remains active for up to an hour, so be cautious when handling and preparing the fish. This venom is ONLY in the spines however, not in the flesh.

There are two ways to clean a Lionfish:

First, you can simply filet the fish and remove the skin, throwing the rest of the carcass away.

The second option is to grab the fish at his eyeballs with a pair of pliers, then take a filet knife and cut the head and belly of the fish off in one slice. Cut the remaining fins off with a pair of kitchen shears and scale the fish. The scales come off so easily that you can remove them by spraying the scales backwards with a water hose.

You now have beautiful white meat that is completely safe to eat.

COOKING THE FISH:

Here are some easy, quick cooking tips.

Lemon Pepper Lionfish:

Take a Lionfish filet, sprinkle it with lemon pepper, and put it in a pan of hot olive oil. Lightly sear on both sides.

Lionfish Ceviche:

Cut your Lionfish filets into thin strips and place into a bowl of fresh squeezed lime juice. Add thinly sliced onions, bell peppers and carrots. Top with capers. Let it sit for at least five minutes before eating.

deep fried lionfish:

If you haven't filleted your Lionfish and still have the body, bones and all, you can simply score the flesh, dip it in batter and give it a fry until golden brown.

Thumbs up to Coral Magazine

Look for the June/July issue

Coral Magazine, a nationally published monthly print magazine, addresses the lionfish problem in their latest edition. Lionfishhunter.com was contacted and is quoted in the article. Please visit http://www.coralmagazineus.com/ or look for the magazine at your nearest news stand.