July 22, 2008 — Coming soon to a reef near you: the voracious lionfish, an incredibly aggressive species that eats juvenile reef fish like popcorn.
So says V.I. National Park Resource Management Chief Rafe Boulon, who asks that you capture any lionfish you see while out snorkeling or swimming. If capturing the fish is beyond your abilities, report the location to the park. If it's outside park waters, call the Planning and Natural Resources' Fish and Wildlife Division.
"There needs to be a concerted effort on all islands to get it early," said Judy Pierce, acting director at Fish and Wildlife.
The lionfish are non-native species, which makes it okay to take them from park waters. They're easy to capture, Boulon said.
"Open a bag and push them in," he said.
Coming in contact with the spines can be painful because they're toxic, but it won't be fatal, Boulon said. Still, caution should be exercised when capturing a lionfish.
"The spines of this species deliver a venomous sting that can last for days and cause extreme pain, sweating, and respiratory distress," according to the Ocean Service Education website from the National Oceanic and Atomspheric Administration.
People often keep the fish, native to the Indo-Pacific region, in aquariums. However, Fish and Wildlife regulations prohibit lionfish importation to the territory, Pierce said.
They're turning up in unlikely locations thanks to Hurricane Andrew. After it 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 first spotted them off Florida in 1994, but since then they've migrated all the way north to the Rhode Island coast, east to the Bahamas and south to the Dominican Republic. While there are unconfirmed sightings in Puerto Rico, Boulon said, no one has seen any lionfish in V.I. waters — yet.
"It's inevitable," he said.
Scientific studies at the Perry Institute for Marine Research's Caribbean Marine Research Center at Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas showed no lionfish until 2005, when one was spotted. The number rose to two in 2006, to 107 in 2007 and, in the first three weeks of the 2008 study season, to 153, Boulon said. No one could be reached at the Perry Institute for further comment.
The lionfish eat herbivores such as parrotfish, doctor fish and surgeon fish that keep the reefs clean of algae.
"Without herbivores, reefs turn into algae beds," Boulon said. When algae smothers the reefs, corals, sponges, sea fans, and other marine life die, he said.
The territory's reefs already face grave difficulty because of such issues as global warming, sedimentation and over fishing. The anticipated arrival of the lionfish will add one more stress factor to reefs.
"It's another whammy," Boulon said.
For more information or to report a sighting or capture, call Rafe Boulon at 693-8950 or Fish and Wildlife on St. Thomas at 775-6762 and on St. Croix at 772-1955.
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