[Coral-List] Mutton snapper eating lionfish in Roatan (Todd Barber)

Debrot, Dolfi dolfi.debrot at wur.nl
Fri Jan 28 03:14:01 EST 2011


Let's be honest people!

Actually, deep down every fisherman at heart will love the lionfish! Why? No bag limits, no size limits, no closed season, no gear restrictions, no area restriction, AND, to top it all off, an undisputed moral high ground to live out our most primitive hunter's instincts.  What more can you ask for? We can all feel like true hero's once again. 

It is a big move away from our stale tradition of "look only....but  do not touch!" conservation paradigm. 
So, even though I'm far away from the reef at this moment, the mere thought of such pure freedom gives me an adrenaline rush.   

The students of ecology that we all are, know full well that the lionfish will ultimately come back down to equilibrium, even without our help. 

The real danger I see in the lionfish is that in the heat of the moment we might neglect the many other areas which in which we are most needed and more effective. At the same time the lionfish is a true icon of the global ecological crisis we are in, and should be used to maximum publicity to finally spur governments into action, not against the lionfish itself, but against the totality of the mega invasives problem, climate change and global overfishing, which all reinforce each other.

Cheers,

Al



-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Dr. C. Mark Eakin
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 2:59 PM
To: Coral Listserver Listserver
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Mutton snapper eating lionfish in Roatan (Todd Barber)


On Jan 26, 2011, at 11:47 AM, Jason Krumholz wrote:

> History also shows us that if we change the fish's name to something 
> appetizing, it speeds the development of the fishery (e.g. Patagonian 
> toothfish = Chilean seabass)... so here's to all efforts to aid the 
> emerging fishery for Caribbean striped grouper.



On the day the first lionfish was found in Key West, Billy Causey and I dreamed up "Frilled Hogfish".  Perhaps we have the divers call them "Coral Devils" per Paul's Dutch name and we market them as "Frilled Hogfish" in the markets?

Cheers,
Mark


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Mark Eakin, Ph.D.
Coordinator, NOAA Coral Reef Watch
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Satellite Applications and Research Satellite Oceanography & Climate Division
e-mail: mark.eakin at noaa.gov
url: coralreefwatch.noaa.gov

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"We know what needs to be done.  We know that our planet's future depends on a global commitment to permanently reduce greenhouse gas pollution." 
Barack Obama, Sep. 22 2009

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