For more than a decade, lionfish have been a problem in Atlantic waters — especially South Florida, where the invasive exotics eat native fish, including herbivores that help keep algae off the reefs.
Marine protected area managers have tried to combat the fish through encouraging lionfish derbies — and encouraging divers in general to remove the fish (carefully! — their spines are venomous).
Now a South Florida congressman wants to increase the assault on lionfish by encouraging development of new technologies.
U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Miami, has introduced the Finding Innovative Lionfish Elimination Technologies Act of 2016 — which can also go by its acronym, FILET.
"Lionfish have no natural predators in our region and a single female lionfish can lay up to 2 million eggs per year," Curbelo said in a press release announcing the bill. "They've been known to consume up to 40 sportfish per day, which has had devastating effects on the recreational fishing industry in South Florida."
The bill would authorize $1.5 million a year for five years for grants to colleges and universities to come up with ways to research lionfish and their impacts; develop "innovative technologies, including autonomous cameras and active acoustic systems" to find lionfish, and to develop "lionfish mitigation technologies, including traps and countermeasures."
The goal of the legislation is to up the ante in the war on lionfish, said Charles Castagna, a legislative aide to Curbelo.
"The derbies are good for catching lionfish in shallower waters. But the origin of the issue itself is with the lionfish that are located on these deeper wrecks," he said. "There's not a lot of effective technology right now to find where the lionfish are located."
