It's very depressing. The first reported lionfish sighting on Bonaire was 10/26/2009. As of now, the lionfish markers are all gone on Bonaire....DMs are routinely removing many on each dive. Today at BelMar, 7 fish were removed by one DM in one dive.

The DM's alone will never be able to keep up. BNMP needs to enlist the help of visiting divers, train them, provide some lionfish killing spears/tools and turn us loose. There are many more visiting divers who could and, IMHO, would help if allowed.

Lionfish derbys and open hunting by all is the only real answer.

BNMP knows this but will show itself as the organization we already know it to be by how long it takes to get the changes made.

Commercial harvesting for food would be a win win situation .
8 confirmed already Blizz ?! Good hunting dude and keep counting !

Lionfish markers are NOT all gone. We are still marking sightings. If there were to be a change in plans, we volunteers would have been the first to be asked to remove markers, and we have not. Guests are telling me that they are finding markers and, on some, lionfish are still visible. "As of now, the lionfish markers are all gone on Bonaire." A statement without any validity by someone with perhaps a small sample of the dive sites.

I'm sorry. We were told by the DM whose initials are CW at BelMar that all the markers were gone, having been used. I have no independent knowledge other than from that source.

There is a shortage of markers because right now there is no plastic ribbon (used to make markers) on the island, though plenty of corks. So anyone who would like to bring some ribbon for STINAPA, here is what is used: Irwin Strait-Line product #65905 1-3/16” x 300’ color: Yellow, White or Glo Lime. http://www.irwin.com/tools/marking-layout/flagging-tapes
If you do bring tape let me know, there are many volunteers asking about making markers so dive shops have plenty to hand out.

There were no lionfish sightings posted to the report today. In particular, if divers are seeing lionfish in clusters it would be appreciated if they report them even if you cannot mark them. I know there are lionfish on most sites, however, at a site that we visit weekly (removing 40) we only saw one lionfish the other day.

There are also many residents who are not dive masters and are authorized to hunt lionfish. Several of them hunt on the reef most days of the week.

As far as derby's go, right now most of the lionfish are too small even for appetizers. My husband and I have caught 177 lionfish and have only kept nine that were big enough to eat.

Some of you don’t give enough credit to BNMP. BNMP anticipated the arrival of lionfish to the reefs of Bonaire and had plans in place prior to their arrival. They have been proactive and have successfully supported changes to laws to enable lawful hunting of lionfish. It is my opinion that they are properly leading the lionfish management effort and will do what is necessary at the appropriate time to deal with the lionfish.

Blizz how did you catch the 8 lionfish you caught? And where? What size? What depth?

I should be on Bonaire in three weeks and I can bring some tape. Where or who would I give it to?

Thank you Mark.

You could take ribbon to STINAPA Headquarters near Oil Slick or contact me and I'll be happy to meet you and take ribbon to STINAPA, CIEE and others who volunteer making markers.

Cindi

Cindi, does it have to be exactly that Irwin tape? The Irwin site shows that Home Depot and Lowes are distributors, but when you go to those sites you don't find exactly the tape you linked to....so if the tape were 1 inch wide instead of 1 3/16, or slightly thicker or thinner PVC, would it still be acceptable?

I have been purchasing tape on my own from Boomerang Hardware, for the past 3 months. Only problem is they have only a dull orange color and it is difficult to see on the reef (which might have its advantages if guests are complaining about all the plastic), but I prefer the yellow or lime. Too bad we can't date and time stamp the ribbons when we mark a lionfish. Algae seems to do a pretty good job, however. It begins to grow on the ribbons in about 2 or 3 days. I have been removing quite a few, after a diligent search and no lionfish was found.

Mel - An equivalent would be fine. Irwin happens to be what STINAPA buys by the case when available.

Jerry - I personally like the White or Glo-lime because it stands out. ☺ The orange is definitely more difficult to see, but does the job, especially if the sighting goes on report.

Please help me understand the issues with lion fish and grouper.

Thanks...

There are few large grouper in Bonaire, because they are caught and eaten, some legally (locals using legal methods) and some illegally. The grouper are needed as part of the ecosystem.

The lionfish are invasive from the Pacific, have no natural population-controlling mechanisms in the Atlantic, grow fast, eat anything, and take over a reef, thus destroying the ecosystem (especially the herbivores) and contributing to algal overgrowth which smothers the coral, further contributing to the loss of the reef. An adult female can produce 30,000 eggs in a single egg sac, and can produce an egg sac as often as every 4 days. You don't need much of a success rate with that kind of productivity!

You can read much about this on sites like Reef.org. There are a few folks who think there are no issues, but they have no information to back them up whereas the evidence is quite clear to the contrary.

This has been discussed on BT quite a bit, so some searching will give you lots of references and further info.

Cindi we are arriving Sat Jan 1. I'll pick up some tape.

Oooops, brain already on holiday....we arrive Sun, Jan 2! We leave here Sat.

I'm coming on Jan 10th. Will try to bring tape also.

Just found this. It sounds like a positive step: Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) announces the release of "The Lionfish Cookbook." This collection of 45 delicious recipes is designed to encourage the harvest and consumption of invasive lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean. Lionfish have a delicate, mild-flavored, white meat and is considered a delicacy.


http://www.reef.org/node/4167

We spotted 3 lionfish at the fishing village on the road past Bopec.

My wife and I are PADI Divemasters. We will be returning in March. Will STINAPA allow us to hunt the lionfish or are they only allowing local DM's to hunt them? We were there in early November and saw Lionfish on just about every dive. We were also there last March and saw none!That's quite a difference in just six months!

Has anyone been to the East Side to see what the LF population is like there?

Thanks, Mel, for the information...

Thank you all for bringing tape with you.

Fid - How was the road to Playa Frans? We are planning on going up there next week. Did you mark the lionfish you saw? Which way did you head once at the reef? What depth were lionfish located? How many minutes did you swim to fish location? What size where the lionfish? Where the lionfish together? You can PM me or add to lionfish sighting report located on CIEE's website. http://www.cieebonaire.org/index.html

Lionfish hunters do go to the east side, weather permitting. When my husband and I have gone to east coast we have only found a few lionfish. (3 in 5 dives)

It’s true, lionfish are yummy to eat.

After a final sweep yesterday, the unofficial dive site known as Eden's Rubble is declared lion fish free within all of the BNMP boundaries, short of anything smaller than an inch. As a result of regular inspection, Edens' Rubble will stay free of LF!

The road to Playa Frans was surprisingly in very good shape.

We went south after entering at about 20 to 30 metres. We did not mark them (no tape). The lionfish were not together however they were very close to each other. We saw them about 15 minutes into the dive.

I hope that helps.........

Fid - Thanks for info.

Cindi

There were at least 10 lionfish varying in size in a group between 45 and 55 metres at Tolo. If you enter from the south end of the parking area they are directly in front on the reef (west).

Fid
At that size you had better be careful they don't eat the boat!

Fid, 45 to 55m? Are you sure you weren't just narced? :-)

I have shot some as deep as 260 ft - 80 meters deep. Many in the 190 -58 meter +/- range.

HaHa
I was actually kidding Fid about meters and millimeters. I was thinking fish size not depth.
Mick

I was narced and could have sworn they were 55m long. I think they were speaking to me in Papiamentu......... or maybe it was english with a heavy southern US twang.....

I wonder if a big ole Tarpon will chow on a Lion Fish spotted with a dive light on a night dive?

Marcus: I would not be surprised and I'll bet that someone will soon report a documentation. I watched a Tarpon, on a Bari night dive come in on a Blue Tang, whamped him, then, immediately spit it out and the Tarpon took off, and we did not see the Tarpon the rest of the night.
Problem is one of dimensions. Tarpon have a large volumn in their mouths, and may not be able to squeeze a fish with spines (almost all fish) down into the gullet with the fins forced alongside, like the Blue Tang, which also has a scapel fin on both sides of the tail, hence their family name, Surgeonfish.
On the other hand, I have witnessed Spotted Morays eating both panicked and healthy lionfish, and successfully swallow the lionfish, headfirst, and the small diameter of the eels mouth keeps the spines alongside the fish and the meal is not able to employ their spines. Success!

Jerry, you've seen the morays eat lionfish on Bonaire or some other location? Just curious.

e.

Eric: Yep. Didn't expect to ever document a spotted moray eating a healthy lionfish, but it happened with 3 of us watching on Bari reef. We applauded. Several have seen a wounded lionfish, that has escaped the tips of the spears, get gobbled up by a moray, mainly because the wounded lionfish is in panicked mode, like a fisherman's bait-fish impaled on a hook, which sends out signals to predatory fish that it is in a panicked mode and not acting like a normal, healthy fish.
Be on the look out when finding a ribbon, but no lionfish, and the presence of a moray in the immediate area. It may not be coincidental. Lionfish are the perfect prey for native predators because of the lionfish's arrogance. In the evolutionary card game, the lionfish has traded the behavior of effectively escaping a potential predator, with many toxic spines. It just sits there, allowing for an efficient predator, like moray eels, to approach very close, and attack. I am amazed at this "arrogance" when, after a bad aim, I miss a lionfish with the ELF, and I actually get a second shot.

Noticed the same, Jerry. Also after a miss many times the fish will dart away just a few feet and then sit there like he's inviting you to try again. If you're really quick getting a shot off you have a chance. Mostly as soon as you aim he's gone into a hole. Also funny when there a couple together. The other one is watching his buddy get shot and then get finished with a knife...meanwhile the other one(s) just sitting there waiting to be next.

Botteling lion fish:
For those if you who hunt lion fish but don't have access to one of those nets. You can easily catch juveniles using 2 liter coke bottles.
Cut the bottle in two just under the neck / along the line where the top of the label used to be.
Use something flat like a slate to herd the fish into bottle. temporarily cap off bottle with slate and slide cut off top part upside down into the bottle. It's a real tight fit, vacuum will keep it in there.
It even worked with an old gatoraid bottle I found on the reef nearby a small lion fish.
These small ones are really difficult to hit with ELF. Yet they are great to catch IMO.. they haven't eaten much at this point and they aren't able to reproduce.

Old fashioned ingenuity. Love it!

Some dives I do often so if I spot them I remember where they are and get them the next time I'm there. I tie the bottles on a string.. 3,4,5 of them. Almost completly filled with water so they just float. Hands free if you hook the string to BCD. Cut off a bottle when I see the fish and cut bottle in two right there. They're easier to carry intact. Usually leave the bottles with fish standing in the sand. Put some sand in it to weigh it down. And collect all bottles at end of dive.
Bottles are also puncture proof for the spines.
There a clip on youtube that shows the process. however this one was VERY difficult to catch as this fish had been messed with so he got educated. You can tell right away if fish have been tried before. They are much more sciddish.
I will try in the next few days to get a better movie on how to catch a lion fish in a bottle.
One day I was a at Cai and found this small LF right at the entrance. At that time there were no ELFs, only had a handspear that wasn't going to get it done. Figured a coke bottle is much like the plastic nets used by the BMP and other volunteers. I don't want to buy a net for a lot of money that is also bulky and awkward to take diving. So took a bottle that washed up on the beach, asked the fisherman to cut it as I had no knife. Also took a piece of driftwood for herding and a piece of plastic crate as temporary cap. And went back in to get it. As I said this one was hard to catch but all others were really easy, most went in at first try. Caught 17 sofar using this method.

Bas T, IMO....you are the "Master Lion Tamer"

here's the link
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQYUEtAxco

Hi Yana!!!!! We miss you ;-)

Bas your link doesn't work

try this one then
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQYUEOtAxco

or search
catch a lion fish with a bottle

That is really amazing Jerry, about the Morays. Do you think then that there is hope in training the Morays to eat the lionfish on a regular basis?

And another question that popped in my head. Obviously Morays as well as other predators on the reefs consume a lot of reef life. Is the lion fish worse for the reef because they prefer to consume juveniles and therefore eliminate a larger number of fish than the other predators, like the Morays?

Sorry for all the questions, I just have an inquisitive mind.

e.

Bas -- is it safe to assume that, because we're not using a spear, speargun or other weapon, it is allowed by BNMP for visiting divers to take lionfish in the same way that you are doing ??

Keep up the great job. I am looking forward to Lionfish & Chips !!

Theoretically not. I assume the rule 'not allowed to remove anything from the marine park dead or alive' is still in effect. The exceptions are with the ones who have an ELF contract with BMP. Personally I don't think you would get in trouble if you come out of the water with bottled LF and encounter one of the rangers.

Thanks for posting Bas. Very interesting!

So, the bottle method is approved for all or is permission from BNMP needed?

Eric "CamMan": Lionfish are magnitudes worse than natural predators on what they consume, mainly because of the word NATURAL. Prey animals and their predators have evolved over millions of years of interacting, under natural conditions, to the point that a balance is maintained where the efficient predator never consumes all the prey, because the prey is also adjusting its behavior, over eons of time, to escape the predator.
Lionfish are not "fighting fair" because they were immediately thrown into the game and the prey have not "adjusted" to this new predator, so the damage that Lionfish can do, is thought to be one of the most devastating events that we have caused on the reef ecosystem, along with, climate change, pollution by sewage, acidification of the oceans, etc, etc, etc.
I also doubt that "we" can train enough natural predators to make any difference in eliminating Lionfish. I hope that it is within the natural behavior of native predators to find a weakness in the Lionfish's arsenal, like the lionfish' arrogance, and enjoy consuming them.

Thanks again for the education. I'm not one to espouse the 'millions of years' theories but the general logic behind your point of view still explains things within the confines of my world view.

Might still be a good idea for lionfish hunters to get in the habit of feeding the LF to morays any chance they get, to try and form some form of behavioral pattern. May have to find a way do it that doesn't cause the morays to start to see the humans as the food bringers though. Always a challenge.

e.

Couldn't find the exact Irwin tape but I found some 1" Go-Lime at Home Depot. Bought three reels which I'll bring in the next six days!

Mark,

The 1" Glo-lime will work just fine. Thanks. Let me know where I can meet you to pick it up.

____________________________________________________

Diver_Reefer you still haven't said how you have killed the 14 lionfish on YOUR 12 dives. WHY ARE YOU BEING SO SHY?

You know how I killed em.

I anxiously await videos and photos if you got em ... well done !!!

Tiki, took 3 rolls to Michael last week, he called and had them picked up......good luck.

Saw lionfish on every dive, in multiples. Mostly very small. Are they netting the small 1's, don't know how they could hit 1 of them at all, let alone in the bladder?

19 dives, on 12 sites.

Just bot back from a dive between White Slave and Margate Bay. Caught 25 out of the 28 Lion Fish we saw. That's roughly 20% of the total number I caught sofar... in one dive!! 65 min dive between 55 and 80ft. Average one every 2.5 minutes. We were pretty busy. Last one was a keeper. Enjoy it, Wally! Thanks for being a great buddy.

Interesting to see the number of Lionfish continuing to increase in spite of the 'catching' effort.

Will someone please comment on the 'native' fish population and the real effect on them to date from the Lionfish.

(Message edited by glenr on January 17, 2011)

Hhmmmm... and me thinking I am kind of a good hunter with my 26 kills in total sofar.....

Dear all, after consultation with Ramon the BNMP manager: The use of tags is officially discouraged by the BNMP. Please refrain from tagging any more lionfish.
Bart
Board member STINAPA
President CURO Bonaire's Dive Association

Soooo, Bart. Where did this subject matter come from "Tagging Lionfish". I do not follow why you blogged this.

Simply put: many tags have been found washed up on the beach on Klein, some sites look like discotheques with five colors of tape, mary poppins would have no problem flying up just tying markers of a single divesite to her underwater flying contraption. Countless markers have been tied to live marine flora and fauna! There are 30.000 divers annually. Let's assume they all attach five tags per visit. 150.000 tags? All will touch the reef. It is an environmental hazard, basically adding insult to injury. Period. No mas! The reason why I posted it here, Jerry, is because there is an active call on this site, as well as on other sites, to bring MORE tagging tape. Please do not! Tagging shooting tying etc. reverses a half century of preservation policy, no matter how well intended. Please spread the word............

Bart. I respect everyone's concern about all the colored markers that are placed on the reef whenever a lionfish is spotted. However, informed divers visiting here would understand what is at stake if we allow Lionfish to pursue their biological imperative- eat and reproduce. Any slack in trying to keep lionfish under some kind of control will only deepen the problem, and not lessen it. I must disagree on the new rule, "Don't mark any more lionfish with tape." It is only my opinion, but what is better? Those 30,000 divers each leaving 5 markers on Bonaire's reefs, or the problem caused by 150,000 lionfish? Are we now declaring that it is hopeless, that we have lost, and we should just give up, and let the lionfish have their way?

I would guess that if the dive shops stop handing out the markers to the visiting divers, that will pretty much put an end to more markers on the reef. Is that what STINAPA is proposing (or maybe has already requested of the dive shops)?

We have removed over 250 lionfish from the reef. A significant number of those are a result of lionfish sightings that are marked and reported. In addition, highly successful removal dives with 20 plus lionfish removed have occurred on dive locations that were targeted because of reports of lionfish at specific locations. We also see, investigate, catch and remove lionfish (and the markers!) during dives, during which our profile would not otherwise intersect the marked lionfish. So the marks have provided added direction to known lionfish locations we would not have seen, thus increasing the success of the lionfish removal process. We understand the concern that Bart has over the “littering” and potential damage to the reef by lionfish markers. However, we strongly encourage the continued reporting of lionfish sightings with greater detail of location, especially large numbers of lionfish in groups, for future catch by the removal team divers.

A lionfish that was taken off Bari this past week was examined before being deposited with CIEE and inside the mouth was one obvious reason I dislike lionfish. The photo was taken by Jim Platz and shows a cardinalfish that had just been taken by the lionfish. Lionfish consume inordinate amounts of native fish, and control is the only answer. We cannot eliminate them.

What I would hate to see is finding a turtle or any other marine creature with a tag in its stomach. Tagging is deliberately throwing plastics in the sea, no matter how you slice it, and mistakes will be and are already made aplenty. If lion fish cannot be found without tagging there aren't that many, are there? And if you see them, shoot them!

Please don't misread this. I do not underestimate the problem, I wrote articles and letters about the threat way before they even arrived on Bonaire. I sincerely appreciate all the efforts and volunteerism in trying to control lion fish, and I have been sponsoring the efforts throughout, but the cure, without question, must be better than the disease, never mind adding another problem to it. I fully support the discontinuation of tagging. Gotta come up with another way.....

Next quest: stop tagging turtles. The poor beasts sometimes look like christmas trees!

Bart, the volunteers are tagging lionfish because that is all they are allowed to do. They are perfectly willing to be trained, and to catch/kill the lionfish. Until that happens, the small number of resident eradicators will fall further behind.

I fail to see the logic in the "Ban the Plastic" crowd. How is ONE, temporary colored marker more dangerous to the health of the reef than ONE lionfish left alone? If anyone can show me how I am in error, I will apologize and shut up.

Tell it brother!

e.

Plastic liters the ocean for decades , then deteriorates into tiny particle that continue to pollute and poison plankton feeders .

If they cannot come up with a bio-degradable tag they should just hunt them .
Sounds like there are enough they can find without destroying coral and marine fauna with plastic that is poison to the sea .

I agree 100% with Bart on his stand to ban plastic tags .
Google Pacific Plastic Trash Vortex ... do you want to add to that mess ?

Frankly, my solution would be to have every visiting diver use the ELF if they so chose & have them just shoot the lion fish. I'm not crazy about all the markings I've seen underwater and I suspect when I get down in March I'm going to see much more.

Anyone caught spearing another type fish with the ELF should have all their equipment confiscated until they paid a $1000 fine to the marine park and be permanently banned from the island.

We already have a mandatory "check out dives" for all visitors. It would be simple to provide this additional info. The only allowed device for lion fish extrication should be the ELF. But, visiting divers should be able to bring their own.

30,000 visiting divers per year, maybe making an average of 3 dives per day each, for maybe a week each (6 days). So that is 30,000 x 3 x 6 = 540,000 dives per year by visitors. Let's suppose only 3% of those dives are for lionfish eradication....that is still 16,000 lionfish dives per year, by visitors. Compare this with maybe 25(?) local folks (residents and divemasters) who are out hunting, and let's suppose they each do 2 lionfish dives per day, 5 days per week, every week; that is 25 x 2 x 5 x 52 = 13,000 dives per year for eradication. i suspect these number are an underestimate of the potential visiting hunters, and an overestimate of the likely resident hunters.

So even a small number of visiting hunters can have an impact comparable to that of all the resident hunters. The key is probably controlling the potential for abuse. Perhaps the resident hunters can be "guides" and "mentors" to the visitors.....rather than just letting it all happen. Serendipity and hope are not a strategic plan to mitigate the lionfish invasion.

Vince, have you got any idea what the bouyancy is of every diver? I can tell you that you would go crying if you saw everybody laying on top of the corals. They already do that while taking pictures, they will surely do that shooting lionfish. I know something must be done but I don't think this will be a good solution.

In the end nature will control what happens with the Lionfish invasion .
When you think of the areas divers get to it is a fraction of the infected area .

It is our nature to try to fix a man made problem but look at Hawaii .
There are less than a handful of original species , the Islands are dominated by invasive species brought in by man .

On my own land I fight to keep the invasive Scotch Broom under control .
In the end the lionfish will probably destroy themselves after they eat everything else . Then nature will renew .
In the meantime lets not destroy anything else trying to fix our deadly deeds .

Dont worry....I remove markers when I shoot em and I plan on shooting alot of them. The markers make it that much easier for me and maximize my bottom time...and the only thing touching the coral is their dead bodies.

That dog Bas cleaned out the honey hole though! I knew that spot would be loaded. We saw three or four big ones thereabouts 2 years ago.

Bart - stop typing and start hunting! "Your" house-reef is not clean anymore.... 2 little ones (about 1 inch) are spotted at about 50Ft just before the large slide caused by the Sunset-pier during Lenny.....

PS-I agree with the stopping of tying plastic to the reef! As a matter of fact, I had a large "fight" about this with Elsemarie about this over 6 months ago already since I refused handing out markers to just every diver. Shoot the mo... fu.... (oops)

Mel, while I find even shooting controversial because of the potential damage to the reef, I agree that the effort needs to be expanded for now, by for example more ELF's deployed. I believe dive shops should be given the trust to be able to properly judge and select guests to use an ELF as well. I have plenty of guests, who are able and willing to do just that. However, I frankly doubt that the effort, no matter how intense, will even make a dent in the overall LF population. I saw several LF at the fishermen dock at Sorobon. They were all less than 2 inch, indicating that they may be breeding in the mangroves. The population is/will/has been exploding, but I guess we'll have to try.

Jerry, if all goes according design, you are absolutely right. One tag, one fish, one shot, remove tag, feed LF to eel. But the reality is different. Ask Joy who heads the task force of STINAPA. She did a beach survey the other week on Klein, and SHE found several tags washed up. Last week I dove Ebo's reef, removed 18! tags and at only one there was a lion fish, which I killed. More than half of the tags I found were tied to live fauna! The reef looked like a bloody fancy fair. Lion fish although mostly stationary, do move around, often prompting another tagging. In an ideal world there is no current that pulls tags down thus completely entangling themselves in their surroundings. Tags have been used as way markers so divers could find their point of entry again, other abuse or careless handling have been noted, etc etc. etc. Reality beats idealism. The policy is therefore now shoot on sight. That's why 'ban the plastic'! And I agree with that policy for now, in fact suggested it.

This while not even mentioning that the whole 'control' program is disputable IMHO. No succesful invasive species, land or marine, has ever been eradicated, and efforts for control have often led to added disaster. LF have proven to be an exceptionally succesful invasive species throughout its immense new habitat, covering almost the entire Caribbean Basin.

To have an enormous impact on an eco system almost the size of Canada in less than twenty years, unbelievable! Three dimensional that is. It is a baffling onslaught. And the question is thus: are we prepared to throw away a half century of carefully polished policy, IE replace don't take, don't touch, don't shoot with take, touch, and shoot? Do we buy the yahoo and charge, pull and shoot approach without question? Will the ELF be standard scuba equipment for every diver? Will we encounter, even accept the occurrence of abuse? Baffling..............

Ramon said the following and I am afraid I concur for now: let us hope the dive shops are able to keep their house reef clean, so as to have small sanctuaries without LF.

I also agree with Anouk. Not only may buoyancy control be an issue also dept is one. They tend to hang out quite a little deeper so I fear that Mr. vd Vaart will get more business then he can handle when "everybody" will be turned lose with an ELF. I suddenly find myself doing one deco dive after the other and sometimes do so unprepared! Especially when that LF is not hidden completely it will keep you there a lot longer then you want to..... I see a serious liability issue lurking around the corner for the ones who hand out the ELF's if that diver gets hurt using it.
I am not against including tourist divers at all in the battle against LF and I am assured of the fact that every extra hunter out there will help but only if that hunter knows what he/she is doing out there.

Hey Menno, I know, in fact there are many, I found more than twenty, from the big barrel to the Marina entrance. It is disheartening to see.......
On the bright side, there were many mature conch entering the Marina, a veritable parade! Might it be their yearly, uhm, you know? How would slugs do it? Slowly I imagine, HA!!

Oohhh..... they make those waves in the marina lately.

Biodegradable ribbons, likely cellulose-based, appears to be the most plausible answer to our current ribbons.

Regarding the marking of lionfish:

The passion and concern for the reef that is expressed by the above posters is a good sign for Bonaire and is to be applauded. Discussion and debate of important topics is healthy. As a BNMP volunteer and dedicated lionfish hunter, I want to say that the use of markers to tag lionfish is still allowed by BNMP. Please note that only BNMP speaks for the Marine Park and no notice has been issued stating a change in policy regarding the tagging of lionfish. Until such notice is issued the policy to tag lionfish continues. I hope that all Dive Shops will continue to vigorously support the BNMP in the effort to manage the lionfish population on the reef of Bonaire. That includes the important steps of providing markers to divers at orientation, emphasizing the importance of securely tying markers to DEAD coral and posting lionfish sightings to the Lionfish Report. We review that report several times a week to assess what dive sites to visit to remove lionfish and any markers.

To those of you who have recently provided tape, thank you. Markers have been made and are available for dive shops to distribute.

Surely there is a diveshop reading this that is seeing a potential market for guided lionfish hunting dives. Would require a licensing agreement with STINAPA or BNMP I'm sure but it would solve several of the issues being discussed here.

(I want a 5% cut of the business to whomever is smart enough to run with that idea.)

e.

Wow, e -- EXCELLENT idea !! I really hope this happens.

Cindi, I have helped create the BNMP, in fact maintained it when there was no active park yet. I am on the board of STINAPA, which directs STINAPA itself, which in turn directs the BNMP. Thus the BNMP does not speak for itself necessarily, but is directed.

On a daily basis I support/supply the park system with money, means and education and done so for more than twenty years. This in addittion of having served on the board of the Sea Turtle Club, I am co founder of the Foundation to Preserve Klein Bonaire and still vice president, president of the dive association CURO, and board member of BONHATA. All of these functions are/were elected, voluntary possitions. Just to show I am somewhat involved, out of a deep sense of gratitude to be allowed to make my living the way I do..

The tool you hunt lionfish with was evaluated and approved by me among others.

You are not discussing frankly, you are continuing YOUR way despite the fact that the BMP has not been handing out markers anymore for several months, and is now discouraging the use as is.

However I, STINAPA, BNMP, and legally the N may be taken out of that abbreviation for now, are just tools to protect and preserve the environment I would hope, and not a goal by themselves. Adding plastic to a reef is littering, polluting, possibly hazardous to other marine life, never mind the cosmetics, possible mistakes and abuse.

My staff has been given the order to remove each and every tag they see, while killing every lionfish they can. This not only indicates that my staff volunteers, I pay them while they are at it as well. Sadly we find way more tags without lion fish and way more lion fish without tags. Thus we have now two problems instead of one. We obviously will not hand out markers anymore.

Don't read this the wrong way, I strongly applaud and I am grateful to all volunteers for all contribution small and large, it is awesome, but sometimes it gets out of hand which the marking, as is, threatens to do.

I would rather applaud Jerry's idea of fully biodegradable markers, excellent plan, let us find them, and deploy them.

We could make them out of those crinkly biodegradable Sun Chips bags they came out with a few months ago. I think they actually took them off the market because they were so amazingly noisy when you handled them. But they had a silver inner liner that would be highly visible.

It's possible that if we cut the bags in strips to use as markers, not only would they be biodegradable, the noise just might make the lionfish leave Bonaire.

(And I'm serious about the 5% stake in guided lionfish hunts.)

e.

Bart,

You make many valuable points about the detractions of markers as they are currently being used. I’m sure they will outlive their usefulness at some point. I still find them to be useful and usually only find a few on the reefs where I have dived to remove lionfish. And those markers typically have lionfish nearby. As you also do, I support the removal of markers both after killing any lionfish or not finding any lionfish by the marker – this is a practice I have used since the beginning of the removal process and hope that others do too. It is also helpful to report to lionfishbonaire when a marker is removed so that sighting entry is deleted from the lionfish report. I agree that Jerry’s idea for biodegradable ribbon is excellent and should be investigated.


It is still very valuable to me as a volunteer lionfish hunter to have sightings of lionfish, especially when in groups, continue to be reported and posted to the lionfish report. We have used that information on several occasions recently to assemble a group of divers to target and remove many lionfish from a reef area on one or more dives. Recently about 6 divers went to English Garden for a single dive and cleared 24 lionfish, many markers leaving only one or two markers for follow-up. Later that same day a second group of hunters cleared an additional 10 lionfish from that site. This effort was initiated by the result of visiting divers who observed and reported about 20 lionfish on that reef.

Occasionally we have had visiting divers take us to locations where they have spotted multiple lionfish. After catching the fish we have demonstrated how the fish can be safely cleaned and then have given the lionfish to them to eat.

I appreciate your long term and continued support for STINAPA and BNMP and hope that the lionfish remain at a manageable level through the efforts of all levels of involvement – volunteers, Dive Shops, industry management, Park management and directors, and government.

Cindi

Hi folks,

I have been following BT for some time, but I am a bit shy and I (think) this is my first post. I have been to Bonaire 3 times, and my next trip with my family is scheduled for this August. I have always loved the overwhelming support I have felt by the people of Bonaire for their marine environment, making Bonaire my favorite place to be.

Anyway - I have been doing some research, and like you, am dreadfully concerned about the lionfish problem, as I know all of you are - I'm just not sure how to be more proactive, besides coming up with lame ideas like trying to get Top Chef to do a quickfire challenge on ways to serve lionfish... but I am also a research chemist, an listening to the discussion about markers, contacted some colleagues at 3M about biodegradable markers. I can't imagine that the markers you use on the reef are plastic - but if they are, biodegradable flagging tapes certainly do exist:

http://www.seton.com/biodegradable-flagging-tape-sp48.html
http://www.gemplers.com/product/52273/Biodegradable-Flagging-Tape

I don't mean to imply that I am weighing in on the topic of whether to use markers or not, especially sympathizing with Bart's point of view (but also Cindi's were very compelling). While I do tend to think it likely a bad idea to let the entire diving community loose hunting, I applaud the efforts of dive shops to host awareness and activity, such as CDH's lionfish wrangling in March. In the interest of taking action, is there a way a visiting divemaster could be trained as a volunteer hunter for a 2-week visit?

all the best,

Darrin

Good work Darrin!

Much better than present tape and looks affordable.

I went ahead and ordered 5 rolls from the "Seton" link to take with me. Will post how it works out.

I hope I dont have to use it and just need to donate it to the shop I use.

(Message edited by antoine_dodson on January 21, 2011)

It is not clear that the "biodegradable flagging tape" is designed or tested for use underwater. If it lasts a day, that is not long enough; if it lasts a year, that is too long; is a week about right? I'm trying to get some info from the coral-list research community right now about their use of biodegradable markers. Stay tuned. And corks may not be the most desirable floats....especially the plastic corks!

Hi all,
The dive association CURO, is working with BMP and STINAPA for a solution and expand the removal effort, as soon as possible. Regardless of tape or method, the idea and goal is to control the LF population without or as little as possible 'collateral damage'.
Involvement (active participation) of visitors is prominently considered, while staying within the boundaries of law and safety. I would expect a workable plan somewhere next week.

In the mean time, Ramon had serious doubts about using biodegradable tape, I lost him at some point during his explanation on the why, when he started to talk particle sizes. In short I believe him :-) and just said Yes Ramon.

Will keep you posted

I shouldnt even try the biodegradable tape, Mel?

Antoine, it is not my call. Ramon gets to decide.

I'm just saying we don't really know what "biodegradable tape" even means in the underwater environment. Does it just dissolve? Or does it break up into little particles? If the dissolved tape gets onto live coral, does it harm it? What happens if the zooplankton eat the little particles?

I think the only thing you can count on is that the biodegradable tape is non-toxic, but we don't know what it does mechanically to its environment. I believe this is Ramon's concern, as Bart expresses above.

Wikileaks revealed: It was all predestined. Look at the names of the managers of our parks: Without my dentures in I got it: its ELFmarie Beukeboom and Ramon de Lion(fish)............