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First Lionfish Captured on St John
First Lionfish Captured on St John
St. John Source
First Lionfish Captured on St. John
A quartet of V.I. National Park staff members Tuesday captured the first lionfish discovered on St. John. Rafe Boulon, the park's chief of resource management, said the fish was found east of Waterlemon Cay on the island's north side.
"It was reported two weeks ago, but we couldn't find it," Boulon said.
After a lionfish was spotted Tuesday morning in about 40 feet of water by Maho Bay Camps dive concession divers, park staff hurried out to the site by boat.
"We caught it right away," Boulon said.
The park staff used a net dive bag.
According to Boulon, the park will preserve the fish.
Saturday, the B.V.I. government sent out a press release announcing that a lionfish was spotted March 4 off Ginger Island, located near Virgin Gorda. Efforts were subsequently made to catch the fish, but the press release indicated the fish was not captured.
"Consider this as biological warfare on the fisheries of the Virgin Islands. They will eat just about every fish that is up to two-thirds their body size. This will leave reefs vulnerable to algal overgrowth and mortality. They are also venomous and a potential threat to anyone that tries to handle them,” Shannon Gore, a marine biologist in the BVI's Department of Fisheries and Conservation, said in the press release.
The lionfish invasion of the U.S. Virgin Islands began on St. Croix, with the first one captured in December 2008. William Coles, chief of environmental education at the Fish and Wildlife Division of the Planning and Natural Resources Department, said to date a total of 19 lionfish were captured across the territory. That number includes the one caught Tuesday on St. John, two on St. Thomas and 16 on St. Croix.
To help snorkelers and divers assist Fish and Wildlife in capturing lionfish, Coles said the division came up with an inexpensive marker that can be made at home. Tie about four feet of emergency tape (similar to that used at crime scenes) to a washer of the size used with a three-quarter-inch bolt; then tie the other end to a wine bottle cork. When the fish is spotted, plant the device in the water washer side down. Call Fish and Wildlife or the park for assistance.
"We've found lionfish within two feet of the marker even three days afterward," Coles said.
Using the markers has cut capture time to about 10 minutes, Coles said.
The lionfish, which are native to the Indo-Pacific region, began their swim south after Hurricane Andrew devastated south Florida in 1992. People dumped aquarium contents into the ocean because they didn't have any electricity to keep the aquariums running. Divers saw the first one off Florida in 1994.
A voracious predator, lionfish pose a big threat to the territory's reefs because they eat the fish that keep the reefs clean of algae. When algae cover the reefs, they die. Lionfish eat both night and day, downing fish, crustaceans and mollusks in huge quantities.
View complete instructions on making the lionfish markers at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHzpm2zeTL0
To report sightings call Boulon at 693-8950, extension 224. Reach Coles on the lionfish hotline at 643-0800.
Copyright © V.I. Source Publications, Inc.
Source URL: http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/lo ... ed-st-john
First Lionfish Captured on St. John
A quartet of V.I. National Park staff members Tuesday captured the first lionfish discovered on St. John. Rafe Boulon, the park's chief of resource management, said the fish was found east of Waterlemon Cay on the island's north side.
"It was reported two weeks ago, but we couldn't find it," Boulon said.
After a lionfish was spotted Tuesday morning in about 40 feet of water by Maho Bay Camps dive concession divers, park staff hurried out to the site by boat.
"We caught it right away," Boulon said.
The park staff used a net dive bag.
According to Boulon, the park will preserve the fish.
Saturday, the B.V.I. government sent out a press release announcing that a lionfish was spotted March 4 off Ginger Island, located near Virgin Gorda. Efforts were subsequently made to catch the fish, but the press release indicated the fish was not captured.
"Consider this as biological warfare on the fisheries of the Virgin Islands. They will eat just about every fish that is up to two-thirds their body size. This will leave reefs vulnerable to algal overgrowth and mortality. They are also venomous and a potential threat to anyone that tries to handle them,” Shannon Gore, a marine biologist in the BVI's Department of Fisheries and Conservation, said in the press release.
The lionfish invasion of the U.S. Virgin Islands began on St. Croix, with the first one captured in December 2008. William Coles, chief of environmental education at the Fish and Wildlife Division of the Planning and Natural Resources Department, said to date a total of 19 lionfish were captured across the territory. That number includes the one caught Tuesday on St. John, two on St. Thomas and 16 on St. Croix.
To help snorkelers and divers assist Fish and Wildlife in capturing lionfish, Coles said the division came up with an inexpensive marker that can be made at home. Tie about four feet of emergency tape (similar to that used at crime scenes) to a washer of the size used with a three-quarter-inch bolt; then tie the other end to a wine bottle cork. When the fish is spotted, plant the device in the water washer side down. Call Fish and Wildlife or the park for assistance.
"We've found lionfish within two feet of the marker even three days afterward," Coles said.
Using the markers has cut capture time to about 10 minutes, Coles said.
The lionfish, which are native to the Indo-Pacific region, began their swim south after Hurricane Andrew devastated south Florida in 1992. People dumped aquarium contents into the ocean because they didn't have any electricity to keep the aquariums running. Divers saw the first one off Florida in 1994.
A voracious predator, lionfish pose a big threat to the territory's reefs because they eat the fish that keep the reefs clean of algae. When algae cover the reefs, they die. Lionfish eat both night and day, downing fish, crustaceans and mollusks in huge quantities.
View complete instructions on making the lionfish markers at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHzpm2zeTL0
To report sightings call Boulon at 693-8950, extension 224. Reach Coles on the lionfish hotline at 643-0800.
Copyright © V.I. Source Publications, Inc.
Source URL: http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/lo ... ed-st-john
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Marcia (Mrs. Pete)
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chicagoans
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These invasive species are just horrible. And I'm sorry to cruisers, but it gives me one more reason to dislike cruise ships. There should be much tougher regulations on those floating pollution machines.
From http://www.eco-pros.com/humanimpact.htm:
"Ships are transporting non-native species and pathogens in their ballast waters and discharging them in waters at destination ports. These exotic species can take over the native species and cause catastrophic changes in marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Many cruise ships fly under "flags of convenience," registering the ships under a variety of foreign countries that have little or no environmental regulation or enforcement of pollution control. Major cruise lines have been fined millions of dollars for falsifying records, installing illegal bypass lines, and dumping oil, sewage, garbage and hazardous toxic wastes into our oceans and waterways."
From http://www.eco-pros.com/humanimpact.htm:
"Ships are transporting non-native species and pathogens in their ballast waters and discharging them in waters at destination ports. These exotic species can take over the native species and cause catastrophic changes in marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Many cruise ships fly under "flags of convenience," registering the ships under a variety of foreign countries that have little or no environmental regulation or enforcement of pollution control. Major cruise lines have been fined millions of dollars for falsifying records, installing illegal bypass lines, and dumping oil, sewage, garbage and hazardous toxic wastes into our oceans and waterways."
I read this post and then oddly enough, was waiting for my daughter at the dentist and Reader's Digest had a whole article on lionfish and the problems with them. They sound like a nasty problem...invasive, and hard to get rid of, like the zebra mussels we are warned about in our local lakes. I hope it can be kept under control....
