7 News Belize

Lionfish: The Predator Becomes The Prey
posted (July 1, 2013)
A few months ago, we showed you the detrimental effects which the spiny lionfish has on the coastline and the barrier reef.

This is a very aggressive undersea creature which feeds on the juvenile grazer species that usually help to keep the barrier reef healthy.

Well, the Placencia Producers Cooperative Society, the Southern Environmental Association and OCEANA Belize have organized an effort to try to immediately decrease the lionfish population as best as possible.

It involves encouraging fishermen to fish as much of the lionfish species as possible, and creating a market outlet, which will see immediate profit and a decrease in the fish.

To launch this initiative, these organizations held a lionfish competition on Friday and Saturday, and with the help of freelance Journalist Aaron Humes, we provide you with a look into the competition.

Jennifer Chapman - Representative Blue Ventures
"One of Blue Ventures primary objectives is to develop a market for Lion Fish both for local and export. Lion Fish have such a negative effect on our reef and they also provide us with an alternative sustainable environmentally safe with fishery. Lion Fish have extremely high prices in American restaurant and there are natives that are willing to pay for Lion Fish and throughout Belize it's really quite high. So we believe that fishermen are going to be able to receive more for what they work for than the average snapper or grouper fillet and furthermore it doesn't have a seasonal closure and it doesn't have a size limit. They can bring it in throughout the year and they don't have to worry about the restrictions because it doesn't have the restrictions in place with other fisheries because this is one that we want to over fish so you know it has a different perspective on it. Yes I believe that it can be extremely profitable and it's an industry that is just going to grow in Belize and is just going to get bigger."

Diver
"It feels pretty good - actually we're at 50-60ft getting the Lion Fish so that our reef can be safe for the future."

Reporter
"What advice would you give to other fishermen in terms of participating in this type of initiative to sort of rid the coastline of this veracious specie?"

Diver
"I would say that they should try their best to rid them - they are very nice and good to eat and delicious and they are not hard to catch as long as you know what you're doing, just be careful because they are easy to catch and they are affecting our reef so we need eradicate them to protect our local species."

OCEANA reports that the First prize of $1,500 for the most lionfish went to Turtle Inn. Splash Dive Shop landed the biggest lionfish weighing 1.64 pounds to win the $800 dollars, and the third prize for the smallest fish. There is no issue with over fishing or underweight fishing because this is a preventative measure to intervene on the issues cause by the Lionfish's dominance.

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