TAMPA, Fla. — They're striped, spiky and potentially harmful to our native Florida marine life.
We're talking about the lionfish. The species' negative impacts are what led the Florida Fish and Wildlife to create the Lionfish Challenge — giving divers an incentive to harvest as many of the invasive fish as possible.
And, this year, divers participating in the tournament broke records by bringing in a whopping 25,299 lionfish.
The seventh annual Lionfish Challenge ran for three months and ended on Sept. 6. Of the 707 registered participants, two were victorious.
Issac Jones won first place in the recreational division to be crowned "Lionfish King." He collected 1,018 lionfish.
Paul DeCuir was named champion of the commercial division for collecting 1,092 pounds of lionfish.
According to the tournament's website, the prize for the top-tier winners is a YETI 45 hard cooler. Other prizes include fishing and diving gear as well as custom shirts designed by the tournament's sponsor FloGrown.
Lionfish are native to the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea but can be found in Florida's waters year-round, including in the Gulf of Mexico, the FWC website reads. The fish have been found in waters up to 1,000 feet deep.
The most effective method of lionfish removal is spearing and using a hand-held net as they are rarely caught by hook-and-line. This is why a large number of divers participate in the Lionfish Challenge each year. The FWC says lionfish are also caught as bycatch in the commercial lobster and stone crab trap industry.
You can learn more about handling lionfish or filleting them for consumption on the FWC website.
