I saw a lionfish being killed at the Split yesterday. He said he killed ten so far there and saw one the size of a football he missed.

what are lion fish?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111695369

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/lionfish.html

Here are a couple of links to help. They are killing the reef!

"I was diving on a reef I've studied since 1991," he recounts. "It was so degraded, and there were so few fish in what used to be a teeming reef, that at one point I was overcome and went to tears."

He says in the best case scenario, some natural control will kick in and lionfish will become a minor part of the Caribbean and Atlantic reef community.

Problem yes - overeaction YES! Pray tell how does the Lionfish "degrade" the reef. I would doubt that a 12 inch Lionfish eats anymore fish than a 12 inch Grouper.
Not defending them being there obviously they do not belong but when a so-called scientist makes that sort of statement.....well .....it degrades scientists
JMHO

Yes, very good point of view, but still Lionfish Tacos is a great idea!

I don't have numbers to support it but I seem to remember the Lionfish is the most voracious predator of its size to weight of food consumed per day. They can wipe out an areas species population by destroying the juvenille population in weeks. They are a particularly efficient predator.

Agreed it is a short term problem as Nature will balance it. Man damaging the reef/planet is also a short term issue as it will rebound - it might be a couple of million years time but nature has time on its side, not sure man does.

Lionfish are a delicacy in Asia. I think there are some specific ways to clean them to ensure safety, but possibly they could be a good addition to the food supply in Belize. If the fisherman can find value in them, trust me, they will be fished extensively.

We want to give them a problem and nothing is a bigger problem than tasting good!

I agree! You can't fight mother nature and win, you can only try and work with her. Things will sort themselves out. If Lionfish is the number one predator on the reef and we wipe those out, What second predator would be in line for the #1 spot? Should we try to wipe those out too? I hope not.

Except that the reef was already in some form of equilibrium before the lionfish came along.