For several years, we have followed the attempts to control, if not eradicate, the invasive lionfish from the waters around Florida and the Caribbean.  Recently, divers participating in Destin, Florida’s Emerald Coast Open, which is described as the “world’s largest lionfish tournament,” removed 19,167 of the invasive predators.    

Sometime in the 1990s, two different species of lionfish made it into the waters of the Atlantic off Florida. Native to the Indo-Pacific, the venomous, predatory fish spread rapidly, decimating local reef fish in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. Lacking local predators to stop its spreading, the lionfish have been described as “one of the most aggressively invasive species on the planet.”

Sport Diver reports that divers from all over Florida, nine other U.S. states and the Caribbean descended upon the Emerald Coast of Florida… This year’s tournament saw more participants than any previous year and distributed $48,000 in cash prizes, with the first-place team walking away with a $10,000 check. The winning team, Florida Man, removed 2,241 lionfish among its four team members in a 48-hour period. 

Ultimately, the divers can choose to sell or keep their catch. Almost 7,000 pounds of lionfish were purchased by Halperns’, a seafood distributor that works with the Whole Foods grocery chain.

Lionfish tournaments are not new, but the awareness and events are growing with each passing year. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission states that more than 540,000 lionfish have been removed between 2014 and 2018 in the Sunshine State alone. Lionfish tournaments help spread awareness by educating the public on this invasive species and incentivizing participants with cash prizes for taking part in lionfish removal tournaments and derbies.