Bermuda's First Winter Lionfish Derby!!!

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all doing well and, for those of you in New England, enjoying the record-breaking snow. I'm sorry to say I missed most of it, although I got back just in time for the latest blizzard. As much as I love diving and Bermuda's beautiful warm waters and reef, I was born and raised up here and I love the winter. I've got snow in my veins and I was disappointed to miss the sight of my car buried in it.

 

How did I miss most of the storms? Well, as I hinted in my last note, I ran a three-week lionfish derby, so I was in Bermuda for ten days to collect and sample the catch. Since December, I'd been hearing stories from the dive shops of bigger than usual numbers at the most common sites. Soon after, the lionfish hunters started to report the same. It seemed like a good opportunity to investigate what was happening and collect samples at the same time. It was a busy trip. Twenty days of work squeezed into ten days on the ground. Beside the actual dirty work, there were a few meetings to attend and we ran a permit session to license a group of lionfish hunters (check out our page on facebook). We had a great event at the Mid-Oceans Club and I spoke to nearly 150 of their members to describe the lionfish invasion, what is happening in Bermuda to control that, and mention what the major players are doing to contribute to a solution. The night was an incredible success and a very uncommon thing happened: I wore a jacket and tie!

 

These two photos were taken by Weldon Wade.

 

Some of the major players. From left to right: Alex Chequer (OSF and the lionfish research team), Dr. Gretchen Goodbody-Gringley (BIOS, OSF, and the lionfish research team), Paul Van Pelt (co-chair of the Lionfish Task Force), Selange Gitschner (Groundswell), Graham Maddocks (founder of OSF), me (check the outfit!), Matt Strong (Groundswell), and Weldon Wade (Bermuda Ocean Explorers).

 

And a closeup of the tie!

The derby was launched January 9th and ran until midnight on February 1st. In that period, 133 lionfish were caught, although not all of them were submitted for the competition. Strangely, zero SCUBA divers participated, but there is a very enthusiastic core group of freedivers that did all the work.Mark Outerbridge won first place with a incredible haul of 53 lionfish in nine trips. Jon Pedro took second with 8 lionfish, and Mike Sinclair won third with 7. Tommy Sinclair caught the biggest (17 inches) and Adrienne Smatt caught the smallest (10 inches).

Here's a map that the Ocean Support Foundation (OSF) maintains to highlight where lionfish have been caught. This shows the period of the tournament.You'll notice most came from the middle of the island, around John Smith's Bay.

 

Here's a few links:

 Regiment volunteers wage war on lionfish

 Lionfish hunter's tips for successful spearing

 Winners of derby to cull lionfish announced

We even made the evening news.This clip is supposed to automatically start at 6:10, but doesn't seem to be working correctly. Sorry. Please forward or rewind to that point

There was also a Diver Invasion of John Smith's on Sunday, February 8. This was an event hosted by Weldon Wade of the Ocean Explorers, where divers invade an area for a full day of diving, collecting marine debris, and hunting lionfish. In total, 17 lionfish were taken that day. Although they didn't count toward the tournament, it adds to the huge numbers taken at that site.

 

This photo was taken by Selange Gitschner of Groundswell. That's her dinner.

 

This photo was taken by Weldon Wade.

And now I'm back in Massachusetts and I caught my storm over the weekend. I'll be buried in snow for a few days and buried in work for a few months. As always, I'll keep you posted.