Red lionfish are covered in venomous spikes, can produce as between 15,000-30,000 eggs every four days, and, are skilled, precise hunters that swallow their prey whole. If pricked by a spike, the intense pain can last of hours, and human victims can experience swelling and even temporary paralysis. In the Caribbean, these aggressively striped creatures have no natural predators (even fishermen are understandably keen to steer clear), leaving them to multiply and destroy everything in their path. They sound like a classic movie monster: devastating and virtually indestructible. But this was not always the case. Lionfish (Pterois volitans) have only recently arrived in the Caribbean. Their striking patterns and fins made them attractive for aquarium owners, who collected them in their native Indian and Pacific Oceans, where they had predators to keep their numbers in check. However, legend has it that a hurricane in the mid 1980s caused an aquarium to smash, and the freed red lionfish found their way into the Gulf of Mexico. Others suggest that the fish may have been deliberately released. But what is for sure is that once they reached the warm Florida waters, the fish began to breed. In 2010, I was working in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro, off Panama’s Caribbean coast. Bocas is classic desert island country: dozens of sandy cays fringed with palm trees, on the edge of reef-filled turquoise sea. One of the projects I worked on was a series of campaign materials highlighting the growing threat posed by invasive lionfish. At the time, we published some alarming maps showing the rapid advance of the red lionfish down from the coast of Florida, across the Gulf and along the reef-lined Caribbean shores of Central America. They had only appeared in Panamanian waters the previous year, but they had multiplied fast, and already their destructive impact was being seen on the reefs and marine life. Our posters and flyers encouraged recreational divers to book spearfishing tours, during which they would be taught to hunt the lionfish safely. There were archipelago-wide competitions to see who could catch the most and the largest specimens, and restaurants were persuaded to add lionfish to their menus, to provide financial incentives for local fishermen to catch this notoriously venomous prey. But these were tiny battles against the monster fish, when each female could each produce up to two million eggs per year. Also in 2009, the red lionfish was observed off Colombia’s Caribbean coast for the first time, in the pristine waters surrounding Tayrona National Park. Today, according to a report by Mongabay, this region is home to an estimated 67 lionfish per hectare, each one consuming up to six per cent of its body weight per day, in smaller fish, crustaceans, coral larvae and shellfish. But as Mongabay explains, the striking colouring that first brought lionfish to Florida’s aquariums, and subsequently to the Caribbean, is now being used as a way to fight back against the fish. A Colombian marine biologist has managed to create unique jewellery from the beautifully patterned and non-venomous pectoral fins. Luz Helena Rodríguez has designed earrings, pendants and bracelets which display the creatures stunning colouration. Working with colleagues and supported by the nearby Jorge Tadeo Lozano de Santa Marta University, she is encouraging local community members to spear the fish, which can then be used to make the jewellery as well as be served in restaurants, multiplying the value of each fish, and supporting the community whose fishing livelihoods are threatened by this aggressive invasive species. The jewellery is named Volitans after the red lionfish’s Latin name. Volitans is, of course, just another tiny battle in the greater war against the lionfish. When I was in Panama eight years ago, the fish had only just spread out along the coast. Today, lionfish have been found as far south as Brazil, and colonies of common lionfish are even beginning to establish themselves in the Mediterranean; no one is yet sure how they reached either destination. Scientists are beginning to realise that eradication will not be possible. But along the coasts of Central and South America, where many communities are poor as well as depending on the sea for their survival, more creative solutions such as Volitans will be needed to control lionfish populations, and the destruction they cause. Local communities must be brought onboard to ensure they are not just losers in the fight against the fish. Find out more:
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