Mike Hancock Receives Prizes For Most Lion Fish Caught

In an effort to maintain the unique diversity of the Belize Barrier Reef Ecosystem and reduce the population of the invasive lionfish, monthly lionfish tournaments have been taking place since April of 2010 and will end November 2010 culminating in a grand prize on December 15, 2010.

The tournament is open to fishermen and tour guides who capture and deliver the most lionfish each month and prizes are given to the person who collects the most at the end of the month.

Michael Hancock has won 1st place for the month of June (70 Lion fish), 1st place in July (98 Lion Fish) and 2nd Place in August (52 Lion Fish) and he received a bike, a polarized sunglass, a phone, and a hurricane lamp. Congratulations to Mike and to Rudy Duran for winning the 1st place in August with 220 Lion Fish (WOW)!

After the first confirmed sighting of a lionfish in Belize in December 2008, ECOMAR began working with the Belize Fisheries Department to raise awareness on the problems that are anticipated as a result of the increasing number of lionfish in the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve Ecosystem.

These actions formed the development of the “Belize Lionfish Project,” an outreach program that is being coordinate by ECOMAR in association with the Belize Fisheries Department, fishing cooperatives; tour guide associations and other NGOs in Belize which are members of the Belize National Coral Reef Monitoring Network.

The goal of the Belize Lionfish Project is to raise awareness on this invasive fish, educate key stakeholders on how they can become involved in protecting their future livelihood, determine the source of lionfish in Belize through scientific studies, and garner renewed enthusiasm and interest in protecting the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System and the associated marine areas.

Ambergris Today

I hope these caught fish are being sold to aquarium shops in the USA. They should bring a nice price and be better than just destroying them.
Congratulations to the winners!

Does anyone know where this picture was taken? I don't recognize the office/floor area.....

It's at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve park office, back by the Texaco station.

Why can't they finance the hunt by selling the fish?

Selling them in pet stores is probably how they ended up in Belize. The last thing the US needs is another invasive species. Great program, congratulations to the winners. 220 in one month goes to show you how bad the problem is.
Mark

Thank you Shuffles...Now I know where.....

October results
fisherman----- Tourguide----- Boat
1st Manolo Magana 160 1st Ediberto Palma 352 1st Nadeska 90
2nd Antonio Munoz 90 2nd Rudy Duran 274 2nd Shy 82
3rd Engenio Santos 75 Michael Hancock 132 3rd Isabel 75
4th Roland Espat 72 Juan Carlos Montejo 132 4th Sundancer 70
5th Rangel Flores 65 4th John Garraway 70 5th Yanisi 65
6th Luis Cruz 5thMariaAllen10 47 6th Varitza 47
7th Jeronimo Tzul 31 6th – – 7th Zaleny 31
8th Mark Lammey 27 7th – – 8th Mels 27
9th Leonardo Awayo 21 8th – – 9th Roxanie 21
10th Carlos Requena 16 9th – – 10th Vicion 14
11th Diogenes Perez 14 10th – – 11th Apex 5

I'm eating, right now, a Lionfish Burger for breakfast.
One of the guides and his wife cooked them for the shop this morning.
The worst curse on this planet is to taste good...yummie!
I love it when a plan comes together.

November update on Lionfish Tournament
Partners of the Lionfish Project
We are pleased to present to you the leaders for the lionfish tournament for November, 2010. Please print and display so we can get more entries! The deadline for receipt of the lionfish for this month is, November 30th, 2010.
You can also visit our Face book page at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001239855838#!/pages/Belize-Lionfish-Project/169698839711709
Regards,
Jeffery Joseph
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Belize-Lionfish-Project/169698839711709?v=wall

Check out the new monthly winners numbers, Wow

Something weird with the numbers. Perhaps I need the schedule explained to me?

Three categories, does that make it more clear.
Juan Carlos is our guy (Tour Guide category).He came in second with a 231 body count. Rudy beat him with 278 killed.
Denton was first place as a fisherman with 544 killed.
French cut boat got 544 also to take 1st place as the boat that killed the most.

Be Like Mike.
More needed up north. See excerpt:

"Keep in mind they're a tropical fish so they don't do real well in cold water closer to shore," said Mel Bell, Director of the Office of Fisheries Management for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. "They obviously do well enough in our offshore waters during the winter to live year-round."

Bell has heard of lionfish observed by divers in about 60 feet of water off the South Carolina coast, but the species likely retreats to deeper reef areas closer to the Gulf Stream when the water temperature cools in autumn.

The species is striking to observe, characterized by long, flowing fins with the dorsal creating the mane of the lionfish. According to NOAA, the fish's dorsal, anal and pelvic spines can deliver an extremely painful sting, which can cause headaches, vomiting and respiratory distress but is not considered to be lethal to humans.

With such a defense mechanism, very few predators want to mess with the lionfish. Even man wants to look but not touch.

There are many problems associated with the presence of lionfish on South Atlantic reefs, which they now inhabit from North Carolina to Florida.

They reproduce quickly, compete with native species for food, eat the juveniles of native species and have few natural enemies.

Lionfish have reportedly been found in the stomach of some grouper species and NOAA scientist Paula Whitfield has theorized that sand tiger sharks are a possible predator of lionfish.

But, as Sebastian has observed over nearly the last decade, it appears the species is left to proliferate at its own pace unless man intervenes.

"[Marine biologists have] noticed they're eating a lot of small fish and crustaceans, basically the same food our normal resident fish eat," Bell said. "So you've added a competitor in there for food. They're basically voracious little predators and will gobble up about anything they can get their hands on. Another problem is they are eating small reef species. We've found small black sea bass [in their stomachs] so they could actually be feeding on species that are important to us."

The NOAA, which is well-versed in protecting marine species of fish, has established and is promoting a campaign intended to eradicate the species in order to protect native snapper and grouper.

The NOAA instigated the Eat Lionfish campaign earlier this year and in a release on the issue states the campaign is "a way to make the public aware of this growing threat and invite them to be part of the strategy to combat it and enjoy a tasty fish at the same time."

A study done cooperatively by scientists from the NOAA and N.C. State University recommends that approximately 27 percent of mature lionfish need to be removed monthly for one year to reduce its population growth rate to zero. The study can be found in the June 2010 issue of Biological Invasions.

Harvesting the species from shallower, more tropical reefs such as the Florida Keys and the Bahamas may be feasible, but Sebastian isn't sure the prospect of harvesting lionfish from depths of 100 feet or more off the Carolinas coast is feasible. Although the lionfish is reportedly similar in texture and taste to the same native snapper and grouper species it threatens, who really wants to risk spearing, handling and filleting one?

"How much is it going to bring per pound?" Sebastian asked. "Is it worth a minimal financial gain to risk getting stung? The body is about the same size as a black sea bass, so I don't how much the exact yield of meat would be.

"Killing them is a little more challenging here in our depths. Down there in shallow water they can shoot one and bring it back up to the boat. Here you would have to shoot it, contain it and bring it back up."

Bell compared the establishment of lionfish on local offshore reefs to other non-native pests that have arrived over the years in the Southeast.

"What do we do about it?" Bell queried. "We monitor it. Just like any invasive species you can't eliminate it. Like fire ants or kudzu, once a species gets established like that it's hard to do too much about it.

"Total eradication is probably not going to happen."

elbert, so Fisherman 1 through 5, equal Boats 1 through 5?

I see what you mean , a little confusing.