Lionfish still on the prowl in Negril

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:

Contrary to recent reports by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) of a 66 per cent reduction in lionfish in Jamaica's coastal zones, one scuba-diving expert in Negril has again warned that the creatures are still infesting Negril's West End waters with impunity.

During the monthly meeting of the Negril Resort Board last week, dive instructor at the Negril-based Dream Team Divers, Sabine Bolenius, said she was extremely worried about what she said was the inability of the relevant authorities to implement a sustainable plan to address the fast-rising lionfish population in Negril's waters.

"There was a newspaper article where they (NEPA) said the lionfish numbers are down, and the project (National Lionfish Monitoring), which they started in 2010, worked very, very well. As a consequence, I sent one picture around (to members of the resort board) which I took with my (underwater) camera on the West End, where you had about nine lionfish in just one spot, which was just an example. I can do that anywhere else as well. On each dive, I counted at least 20 lionfish ... . So to say lionfish are down ... I don't know where they (lionfish) were before," Bolenius said.

SOURCE OF RESEARCH

"What I am trying to say is, I don't understand where NEPA is getting their information. Because in Negril, they haven't done it (lionfish monitoring). The fishermen describe the same issue; it's not only me. So I would like to know where NEPA did their research, where they dived, and where they did their monitoring. It was not Negril. That's for sure," she said.

Bolenius said contrary to suggestions that the lionfish be eaten in order to diminish its population, this was still not feasible as the predators have to reach adult size before they can be consumed. She said during their juvenile stage, the lionfish would already be consuming other fish, thus depleting Negril's fish stock.

"Do you know how many other fish they eat until they are adults? We have to have to have a plan in place to kill the small ones, which are too small to eat. That means you have to have two different plans (including) the eating of the big ones; but you still have to kill the small ones before they reproduce. This is something nobody seems to consider," she said.

Bolenius had first complained that the lionfish were increasing in numbers during last December's meeting of the board. In January this year, the Negril Resort Board decided to write to the NEPA about the proliferation of lionfish in Negril's waters and seek an update on whether the agency had any measures planned to combat the Lionfish infestation.

GUEST STUNG BY LIONFISH

The decision came about after Bolenius told the meeting, among other things, that a guest had been stung by a lionfish at one of the major all-inclusive hotels in the resort town. She had also said the lionfish infestation was extending to coastal waters off the beach strip.

Bolenius, at the time, called for the NEPA to give an updated report on the lionfish invasion in the Negril area as she said the agency's last report dated back to 2010. At the time, however, the representative from the NEPA, who was present at that meeting, was unable to give the requisite update on the matter.

Last month, the NEPA reported that there had been a 66 per cent reduction in sightings of lionfish in Jamaican waters, which it hailed as "just one of the many successes achieved under the recently concluded Mitigating the Threat of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean project, which was launched four and half years ago".

The NEPA reported that "over the course of the past four years, under the National Lionfish Project, targeted removal strategies have seen the population in frequently visited areas reduced significantly. It is now down to approximately 80 lionfish per hectare in some areas" and that "the project also produced the now quite popular and successful 'Eat It to Beat It' campaign, as well as a number of other public-awareness initiatives geared at stemming the population of the lionfish".

Subsequent to that report, Bolenius emailed recent underwater photos of reefs in Negril where eight lionfish, including adults and juveniles, were spotted in a few square feet of space.

Just recently, researchers at the University of North Carolina announced that lionfish, which are alien to the Caribbean, were threatening local fish populations and were eating marine predators such as sharks and barracudas and that "mother nature appears unable to control its impact on local reef fish".

A 2011 University of the West Indies (UWI) document also noted that the creatures prey on juvenile fish and shellfish; were capable of consuming large quantities of these daily; and could negatively affect fish stocks. The UWI said the lionfish reproduce yearlong in the Caribbean and that a female lionfish was capable of producing two million eggs annually.

It noted that the creatures "for many reasons, were released into the canals and seas and set free after they grew too large for aquariums owned by aquaria enthusiasts, mainly in the United States, who had imported them for their homes and offices. Since then, they have made their way along the East Coast of the US, Jamaica, and other Caribbean countries".