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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 360
Location: Cayman Brac
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 Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:57 pm Post subject: Lionfish update |
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The following is an excerpt from Cay Compass News Online.
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MORE THAN 600 LIONFISH CAUGHT
By NORMA CONNOLLY
Divers are continuing to catch lionfish throughout Cayman with more than 600 of the beautiful but voracious fish being captured and killed since they first started invading local waters.
The fish were once a rare find, but now divers are reporting seeing them on a regular basis.
“Since we started collecting lionfish in mid–2008, we have caught about 600 and that includes ones that have been turned in, that we have caught ourselves or that other people have caught and captured,” said James Gibb of the Department of Environment.
The department keeps records of each lionfish that is caught, measuring each one and taking DNA samples to keep track of how the invasive species is spreading throughout the Cayman Islands.
More than 220 divers have been licensed to catch the lionfish. Because Cayman waters are a marine park, catching fish on the reef while diving is usually illegal, but the Marine Conservation Board has given a special dispensation to help eradicate the threat of the invading lionfish.
The DoE is training divers how to handle the fish, which can deliver a painful wound with their venomous spines.
Experts say completely wiping out lionfish in local waters is impossible, but efforts should be made to try to control the population until such time as the environment and other sea life adapts to them.
Lionfish, which are not native to Caribbean waters, pose a threat because they have a huge appetite and feed off juvenile and small fish on the reefs. Native to the Pacific and Indian oceans, they multiply at a fast rate, laying up to 30,000 eggs each month.
Studies have shown that lionfish can wipe out sea life on a reef in just a few weeks.
The infestation of lionfish is thought to have started when six of the fish were released from an aquarium into Biscayne Bay in Florida during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. |
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brakker1............ Livin' a dream
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