Lionfish-Killing Contests Can Work

Lionfish-killing derbies can reduce numbers by up to 52 percent, says a new study led by Dr. Stephanie Green, a scientist at Stanford University's Center for Ocean Solutions. Working with the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, which organizes such derbies, she found that the most successful were Bahamas' oneday events that could decrease lionfish populations below the number that threatened native species. Less successful was a Key Largo event that resulted in fewer but bigger specimens remaining.

Michael Allen, professor of fisheries and aquatic sciences at the University of Florida, said that the events need to be held more frequently than annually, which is now common. They work best on isolated communities of lionfish so that the culling doesn't simply open up spots for surplus lionfish to move from adjacent reefs.

"In the great scheme of things," Allen said, "derbies are probably not going to reduce lionfish in, for example, the Gulf of Mexico." Nevertheless, he says the study showed that if the derbies are focused on areas deemed critical habitat, and are held regularly with regular removal, "you can suppress lionfish abundances substantially."

Lad Akins, Director of Special Projects at REEF and co-author of the study, believes such derbies can reduce the lionfish threat. However, "we don't even use the word 'eradicated' anymore," says Adkins. "They're just too deep and too widespread."

(From a report in the Sun Sentinel January 22, 2018)