Dive Derbies Taking Out Invasive Lionfish

It’s believed the venomous Indo-Pacific red lionfish got a foothold in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1980s when people carelessly released the popular aquarium fish. Now established in Florida waters with no natural predators, the rapidly growing population steals space and food resources from domestic species like grouper and snapper as well as eating native juvenile fish.

Since humans put them there, REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) came up with a way man could help take them back out. The grass-roots, non-profit organization of recreational divers who also conduct fish biodiversity and abundance surveys, set up a...