Lessons From the Western Atlantic Lionfish Invasion to Inform Management in the Mediterranean

Ulman, Aylin; Ali, Fadilah; Harris, Holden E.; Adel, Mohammad; Mabruk, Sara Al; Bariche, Michel; Candelmo, Allison; Chapman, Jennifer; Çiçek, Burak Ali; Clements, Kaylin R.; Fogg, Alexander Q.; Frank, Stacy; Gittings, Stephen R.; Green, Stephanie; Hall‐Spencer, Jason M.; Hart, Jim; Huber, Summer; Karp, Philip; Kyne, Fabian C.; Kletou, Demetris; Magno, Lauryn; Rothman, Shevy Bat-Sheva; Solomon, Jennifer; Stern, Nir; Yıldız, Taner

doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.865162

Cited by 19 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Our study also provides insight on the opportunities and challenges for restaurants located in the more recently invaded regions, such as the Mediterranean and Brazil, which are grappling with the best ways to manage the invasion (Luiz et al, 2021;Ulman et al, 2022).…”

Section: Conservation Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Serving conservation from reef to plate: Barriers and opportunities for invasive lionfish consumption in restaurants

Smith

Burgess

Clements

et al. 2023

Aquatic Conservation

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Invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans, Pterois miles), introduced to Florida in the 1980s, colonized coral reef ecosystems in the western Atlantic and have been documented beyond recreational diving depths. In addition to threatening coral reef ecosystems, invasive lionfish have been linked to economic damage in the form of reduced native fish yields for local fishers and high management costs incurred in the physical removal of lionfish. While few examples exist of successful management of marine invasive species, studies show that lionfish removal can mitigate their harmful impacts. One promising market‐based approach that offers benefits to both human livelihoods and marine ecosystems is increasing the demand for the consumption of lionfish. This study focuses on Florida's consumptive lionfish market and fills a gap in understanding of the lionfish supply chain for Florida's restaurant industry. Twenty culinary professionals in Florida were interviewed to determine their perceptions of barriers and opportunities for increasing their use of lionfish. The most commonly identified barriers were price and consistency of supply, while the most prominent opportunities were improved awareness and culinary potential. Conservation managers, culinary professionals and policymakers should leverage these findings to facilitate opportunities, address barriers and promote public education about invasive lionfish and their impacts.

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Section: Conservation Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Serving conservation from reef to plate: Barriers and opportunities for invasive lionfish consumption in restaurants

Smith

Burgess

Clements

et al. 2023

Aquatic Conservation

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“…Widespread interest in developing deepwater harvest technologies for lionfish has motivated research on lionfish traps in the western Atlantic (Pitt and Trott, 2013;Pitt and Trott, 2015;Hutchinson et al, 2019) and nGOM (Gittings, 2016;Harris et al, 2020b). Testing lionfish traps have also been recommended for the Mediterranean invasion (Kleitou et al, 2021a;Kleitou et al, 2021b;Ulman et al, 2022). We encourage open communication to facilitate efficient research and design iteration.…”

Section: Considerations For Developing a Deepwater Lionfish Trap Fisherymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Linking these to ecosystem or bioenergetic models could help determine the potential benefits to biodiversity and native reef fish fisheries from commercial lionfish removals (Green et al, 2014;Chagaris et al, 2017;Bogdanoff et al, 2020;Chagaris et al, 2020). If catch rates are too low to support a food-based fishery, then public subsidies or value-added products-e.g., leather from lionfish skin or jewelry from lionfish fins (Galloway and Porter, 2019;Ulman et al, 2022)-could help increase the ex-vessel price of lionfish to incentivize harvest efforts. Collectively, these assessments could help set the catchability targets for traps and quantify metrics for the benefits, costs, risks, uncertainties, and timeframes for testing lionfish harvest technologies.…”

Section: Considerations For Developing a Deepwater Lionfish Trap Fisherymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Controlling invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles complex) populations is a major objective for marine conservation and fishery managers in the western Atlantic Ocean (Morris et al, 2012;Hixon et al, 2016;Sutherland et al, 2017) and the Mediterranean Sea (Kletou et al, 2016;Savva et al, 2020;Ulman et al, 2020). To date, removal efforts have primarily utilized spearfishing by SCUBA divers (Morris et al, 2012;Clements et al, 2021), which can efficiently remove lionfish (Usseglio et al, 2017;Harris et al, 2019;Ulman et al, 2022) and reduce local lionfish densities regions (Green et al, 2014;Harms-Tuohy et al, 2018;Harris et al, 2019). Market demand for invasive lionfish has also increased (Blakeway et al, 2019;Blakeway et al, 2021;Bogdanoff et al, 2020), and commercial fisheries have developed for lionfish in some areas (Chapman et al, 2016;Harris et al, 2020a;Ulman et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, removal efforts have primarily utilized spearfishing by SCUBA divers (Morris et al, 2012;Clements et al, 2021), which can efficiently remove lionfish (Usseglio et al, 2017;Harris et al, 2019;Ulman et al, 2022) and reduce local lionfish densities regions (Green et al, 2014;Harms-Tuohy et al, 2018;Harris et al, 2019). Market demand for invasive lionfish has also increased (Blakeway et al, 2019;Blakeway et al, 2021;Bogdanoff et al, 2020), and commercial fisheries have developed for lionfish in some areas (Chapman et al, 2016;Harris et al, 2020a;Ulman et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Three trap designs evaluated for a deepwater lionfish fishery

et al. 2023

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A deepwater (>40 m) fishery for invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) offers a potential means to control invasive lionfish densities and mitigate their impacts on reefs too deep for SCUBA removals. Trapping could provide a scalable solution—if an effective fishing gear with minimal environmental impacts could be permitted and adopted by fishers. We tested the efficacy of wooden slat lobster traps, wire sea bass traps, and experimental non-containment Gittings traps. One hundred deployments of each trap type were made at 120 mesophotic (38–78 m deep) natural reef sites in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (29.6–30.1°N, 86.1–87.6°W). Reef sites were surveyed with remotely operated vehicles (ROV) before and after trap deployments, and remote time-lapse video cameras were affixed above 86 traps to sample in situ recruitment to the traps. The video data showed that lionfish were attracted to the vicinity of the three trap types at similar rates, but that lionfish rarely entered the lobster or sea bass traps. The high bycatch rates of sea bass traps suggested their use is likely unsuitable for targeting lionfish. Lobster traps had lower rates of bycatch, but their relatively high ratio of bycatch-to-lionfish catches suggests that modifications will be needed to make them more efficient. The Gittings traps had the highest lionfish catch rates and lowest bycatches of native fishes, but operational issues were also identified. They failed to open on 20% of deployments and one entangled a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). Even with the best-performing trap design, the average catch rate of lionfish was less than one lionfish per trap. A potential explanation could be the low biomass of lionfish observed during the ROV surveys, which averaged 0.3 kg lionfish per site. The time-lapse video data suggested that lionfish recruitment to Gittings traps could increase with higher densities of lionfish on the nearby reefs, if traps were retrieved after approximately two days of deployment, and if traps were retrieved during dawn or dusk. Further research, development, and testing is needed for lionfish traps, and critical bio- and techno-economic assessments appear warranted to evaluate the feasibility of a deepwater lionfish fishery.

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Using lessons learned from a multidecadal intercept survey of Puerto Rico spear fishers to improve data collection in the U.S. Caribbean

Coffill‐Rivera,

Neal,

Rodríguez‐Ferrer

et al. 2024

N American J Fish Manag

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ObjectiveSpearfishing is a common activity used to harvest coastal marine species worldwide and can be a significant contributor to landings of ecologically and economically relevant species. As such, it is important to monitor spearfishing catch and effort. Spearfishing is commonly practiced throughout the Caribbean, yet characteristics of this gear's fishery remain understudied in the region. Thus, the objectives of this study were to provide a description of the Puerto Rico spearfishing fishery utilizing a long‐term MRIP APAIS data set, examine the data set quality of this survey, and provide suggestions to improve MRIP implementation in the U.S. Caribbean.MethodsWe described the Puerto Rico recreational spearfishing fishery using a multidecadal (2000–2015) Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) Access Point Angler Intercept Survey conducted along the coast of Puerto Rico and surrounding territories. Data issues were identified in the survey results, including possible errors in measurement and identification; therefore, we limited analyses to species composition, enumeration, and mean catch rates.ResultThere were 89 species identified, with snappers (family Lutjanidae) being the most encountered family. Other economically relevant finfish frequently reported were Hogfish Lachnolaimus maximus (n = 121), Queen Triggerfish Balistes vetula (n = 115), and Red Hind Epinephelus guttatus (n = 90). Multiple reef fishes were landed during their spawning season, while prohibited by seasonal closures. Further, spearfishing accounted for 25.8% of the total harvest throughout the study period.ConclusionOur results suggest that spearfishing could be a considerable contributor to finfish landings in Puerto Rico, warranting its continued and improved monitoring in the region. Further, modifications in the design of fisheries surveys are warranted. We suggest increasing the allocation of resources, training, data quality assurance and quality control, and funding for the MRIP to maximize the accuracy of data obtained and meet MRIP U.S. Caribbean priorities. Implementation of a recreational fishing license would assist by creating a registry to monitor total recreational fishing effort and by generating funds to supplement the MRIP. The use of electronic reporting can help mitigate discrepancies with species identification and size measurements and enhance overall recreational fisheries data collection.

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Lessons From the Western Atlantic Lionfish Invasion to Inform Management in the Mediterranean

Cited by 19 publications

References 86 publications

Serving conservation from reef to plate: Barriers and opportunities for invasive lionfish consumption in restaurants

Serving conservation from reef to plate: Barriers and opportunities for invasive lionfish consumption in restaurants

Three trap designs evaluated for a deepwater lionfish fishery

Using lessons learned from a multidecadal intercept survey of Puerto Rico spear fishers to improve data collection in the U.S. Caribbean

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