Lionfish are native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans and live there in a balanced ecosystem. In 1985 lionfish were spotted off the east coast of Florida, most likely introduced there by aquarium owners discarding these beautiful fish into the ocean. Since then lionfish have relentlessly invaded the western Atlantic, with scientists estimating well over a million fish devastating reefs and fisheries in all warm water regions, especially around Florida, throughout the Caribbean, and Bermuda. Moreover the population continues to expand rapidly without check.

Lionfish are indiscriminate and voracious predators that do not stop feeding. They gorge on at least 70 different species of reef fish and crustaceans and are capable of eating prey up to half the size of their own body. They are sexually mature at 12 months and spawn approximately 30,000 eggs every 4–5 days. A single lionfish can reduce the fish biomass on a reef by 80% in just one month. Lionfish are armed with 18 venomous spines making them an unattractive food source for other marine creatures. This perfect predator has no natural predators of its own in the Atlantic. With no apparent limit to their population growth, other than water temperature, lionfish pose a huge threat to the fish stock of the western Atlantic Ocean.

Less obvious, but very real, is the threat that lionfish pose to the reef itself. Reefs are already under threat from climate change and ocean acidification. As the lionfish devour herbivores, such as wrasse, the corals become vulnerable to algae overgrowth and eventually are smothered and die.

With no natural predators and a destructive population that is expanding exponentially, this is a problem that demands intervention.

THERE IS NO CURRENT SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM

On popular tourism reefs, sport divers with spear guns have successfully mitigated lionfish populations in shallow depths. In these locations divers now report that they might spot and kill one lionfish per dive thereby keeping the reef mostly clear. However the same divers report that when going to less popular or more remote reefs they can spear up to 30 lionfish per dive. The majority of reefs are in this category. No type of fishing, trapping, or netting has proven to be effective, especially without creating further damage to reefs and desired species.

Sport divers can only effectively hunt lionfish to depths down to 80 feet, and usually do not travel far from shore. But the numbers of lionfish found in deeper water, sometimes in large colonies, is staggering. Sadly sport divers are very limited in the areas where they go with sufficient frequency and in sufficient numbers to have a meaningful impact.