[Coral-List] LIONFISH COORDINATION RE: Cayman Islands Lionfish Update

Sarah Frias-Torres sfrias_torres at hotmail.com
Tue May 5 07:41:03 EDT 2009



John,I think we all agree that we must take advantage of the many ways we can communicate today, so we can work together on the lionfish invasion in the Caribbean. I was not around (at least not yet as a scientist) for the Diadema mass mortality, but coming from a country who is very ineffective at almost everything, I can see how poor communication can ruin the best of intentions.
As for the removal of invasive lionfish, I do disagree with you. We might not get rid of them completely, but major containment/ control by physical removal could be one of the objectives from a coordinated effort.
Coming from the Mediterranean Sea, and based on our most recent invasive experience, the lionfish invasion in the Caribbean still has a silver lining. In the Mediterranean, the invasive tropical algae Caulerpa taxifolia, has taken over most of our seagrass beds of the endemic Posidonia oceanica. Nothing is quite effective removing this pest. Even when you try to remove the caulerpas, if a small fragment of the algae is left in the substrate, it will grow again. When uprooted, propagules will spread away to colonize other parts, or cling to your dive suit, to your hair, or to the hull of your boat, so you become another agent for spreading them. This is the stuff from a Hollywood alien movie!!!
However, the invasive lionfish comes in discrete, single units. Albeit, thousands of them, but still in "ones". So, with adequate coordination, both removal (aiming for contention and control) and study (aiming at how the Caribbean will survive with a controlled lionfish population) of these aliens can be completed. And in the process, we can get some fish sticks!. If we do nothing, I don't think there is much of a future for the Caribbean fauna as we know it.

Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D. Marine Conservation Biologist Ocean Research & Conservation Association
1420 Seaway Drive, 2nd Floor
Fort Pierce, Florida 34949 USA
www.teamorca.org






> Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 09:44:35 -0500
> From: jogden at marine.usf.edu
> CC: rjuman at ima.gov.tt; dale.webber at uwimona.edu.jm; jcz at virginia.edu; georgewarner261 at btinternet.com; jdwoodley at yahoo.co.uk; jordan at mar.icmyl.unam.mx; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov; kjerfve at tamu.edu; milliken at marine.usf.edu; campam at yahoogroups.com; wjwiebe at earthlink.net
> Subject: [Coral-List] Cayman Islands Lionfish Update
> 
> Thinking back to the Diadema mass mortality of 1983-84 and the 
> opportunities that were missed because of poor communications across the 
> region, now would be a very good time to use our superb and ubiquitous 
> communications to set up a coordinated observation network to see what 
> is the impact of lionfish on populations of small reef fishes.  It 
> appears that this idea could be trumped by well-meaning but ultimately 
> futile attempts to remove them.  Who doubts that they are here to stay?  
> It would be best we anticipate the future of Caribbean reefs with 
> lionfish and try to get some data to help get our minds around this.
> 
> Cheers all.
>>
>> From: Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute Network
>> [mailto:GCFINET at LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU] On Behalf Of Dave Anderson
>> Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2009 9:24 PM
>> To: GCFINET at LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU
>> Subject: [GCFINET] Cayman Islands Lionfish Update
>>
>>  
>>
>> This message was originally submitted by Bradley Johnson
>> [mailto:Bradley.Johnson at gov.ky]  to GCFINet. 
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>>  
>>
>> As of 30th April 2009 we have caught 90 lionfish! This includes the 2 caught
>> in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman in 2008 and 3 live specimens. They have
>> been caught in water ranging from 3' down to 110', on all sides of the
>> islands, and in all habitats.
>>
>>  
>>
>> By island we have: 
>>
>> Grand Cayman - 44;
>>
>> Cayman Brac - 8;
>>
>> Little Cayman - 38. 
>>
>>  
>>
>> Cayman Brac was hit by Hurricane Paloma in November and sustained severe
>> damage to the Island, including their dive operations. The sightings have so
>> far been primarily from divers, so with practically no diving in the Brac we
>> are getting fewer reports of lionfish from there. We assume this will
>> increase once the dive operations reopen.
>>
>>  
>>
>> We have licensed approximately 163 divers to remove lionfish for us having
>> 130 in Grand, 3 in the Brac, and 30 in LC. We will increase the number of
>> licensed divers in the Brac once they get more dive staff back.
>>
>>  
>>
>>  
>>
>> Bradley C. Johnson 
>> Research Officer
>> Department of Environment
>> Cayman Islands Government 
>> PO Box 486 
>> Grand Cayman  KY1-1106 
>> CAYMAN ISLANDS
>> 345-949-8469 Office
>> 345-244-4168 Direct
>> 345-949-4020 Fax 
>>
>> Website www.doe.ky 
>>
>>
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
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> 
> 
> -- 
> John C. Ogden, Director
> Florida Institute of Oceanography
> Professor of Integrative Biology
> University of South Florida
> 830 First Street South
> St. Petersburg, FL 33701 USA
> Tel. 727-553-1100
> Fax  727-553-1109
> http://www.marine.usf.edu/FIO/
> http://www.cas.usf.edu/biology/Faculty/ogden.html 
> 
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