Lionfish Pterois volitans and P. miles have spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean Sea since 1985, where they negatively impact native fish communities and therefore are considered by some as the most damaging invasive species in the Caribbean to date. To combat further population growth and spread of lionfish and to protect native fish communities, various Caribbean islands have started control efforts. On Bonaire, a removal program based on volunteers using spear guns was started immediately after the first lionfish was sighted in 2009, and a similar program was started on neighboring Curaçao 2 yr later. To determine the effectiveness of these removal efforts, differences in the density and biomass of lionfish were compared between areas in which lionfish were directly targeted during removal efforts (i.e. 'fished' areas) on Bonaire and areas where they were not (i.e. 'unfished areas') on both Bonaire and Curaçao. Lionfish biomass in fished locations on Bonaire was 2.76-fold lower than in unfished areas on the same island and 4.14-fold lower than on unfished Curaçao. While removal efforts are effective at reducing the local number of lionfish, recruitment from unfished locations, such as those too deep for recreational diving and at dive sites that are difficult to access, will continuously offset the effects of removal efforts. Nevertheless, our results show that the immediate start and subsequent continuation of local removal efforts using volunteers is successful at significantly reducing the local density and biomass of invasive lionfish on small Caribbean islands. KEY WORDS: Spearfishing · Eradication of lionfish · Pterois volitans · Invasive species · Curaçao · BonaireResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Endang Species Res 22: 175-182, 2013 time, and as a result, local and rapid response efforts are often not sufficiently considered as a (temporary) alternative to international action to minimize the effect of marine invasives, despite the fact that such rapid response strategies are sometimes successful (Anderson 2005, Frazer et al. 2012.All aforementioned aspects are relevant to management efforts aimed at minimizing the negative effects of the invasive Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans and P. miles on native marine communities in the Atlantic Ocean. P. volitans/miles were first sighted in the Atlantic region near the southeast coast of North America in 1985, where they had likely been released by aquarists (Semmens et al. 2004). From there, they first spread northward along the east coast of the USA and since 2004 also southward toward the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of South America (Schofield 2009, 2010, Johnston & Purkis 2011, Frazer et al. 2012). In the Caribbean, lionfish have established themselves in a variety of marine habitats, including coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, coastal estuaries and deep waters up to 300 m (Barbour et al. 2010, Biggs & Olden 2011, Jud et al. 2011. They are generalist predators of...

Coral reefs are among the world's most endangered ecosystems. Coral mortality can result from ocean warming or other climate-related events such as coral bleaching and intense hurricanes. While resilient coral reefs can recover from these impacts as has been documented in coral reefs throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific, no similar reef-wide recovery has ever been reported for the Caribbean. Climate change-related coral mortality is unavoidable, but local management actions can improve conditions for regrowth and for the establishment of juvenile corals thereby enhancing the recovery resilience of these ecosystems. Previous research has determined that coral reefs with sufficient herbivory limit macroalgae and improve conditions for coral recruitment and regrowth. Management that reduces algal abundance increases the recovery potential for both juvenile and adult corals on reefs. Every other year on the island of Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean, we quantified patterns of distribution and abundance of reef fish, coral, algae, and juvenile corals along replicate fixed transects at 10 m depth at multiple sites from 2003 to 2017. Beginning with our first exploratory study in 2002 until 2007 coral was abundant (45% cover) and macroalgae were rare (6% cover). Consecutive disturbances, beginning with Hurricane Omar in October 2008 and a coral bleaching event in October 2010, resulted in a 22% decline in coral cover and a sharp threefold increase in macroalgal cover to 18%. Juvenile coral densities declined to about half of their previous abundance. Herbivorous parrotfishes had been declining in abundance but stabilized around 2010, the year fish traps were phased out and fishing for parrotfish was banned. The average parrotfish biomass from 2010 to 2017 was more than twice that reported for coral reefs of the Eastern Caribbean. During this same period,

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