Let’s eat! Team battles lionfish overtaking reefs and wrecks

 Story courtesy of the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island

The lionfish is native to the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, but since the late 1980s the invasive species has been rapidly taking over reef and wreck sites along the East Coast. The fish is popular in home aquariums and was likely released intentionally into non-native parts of the Atlantic ocean, biologists say.

Since they have no natural predator in the region and eat almost any other smaller aquatic species, their populations have overcome reefs and wrecks, depleting natural fish populations and disrupting ecosystems.

Harper says lionfish prey on the juvenile fish populations who rely those areas for food and refuge, especially during the summer, as well as smaller invertebrates such as crabs and shrimp who call the wrecks home year-round.

“Ultimately, these lionfish alter the local community,” he says. “By removing the lionfish, we aim to mitigate the negative impacts of their presence, and help preserve the native species.”

This summer, the NCARI dive team launched a project to determine if the lionfish population can be successfully controlled on selected wreck sites in the waters off the Outer Banks. The project is funded with a grant administered by the N.C. Aquariums Conservation Advisory Committee and provided by the N.C. Aquarium Society.

During August and September, divers took several excursions to three shipwrecks as far out as 25 miles off Hatteras Inlet.

The team will also continue to remove lionfish on any dive it conducts.

“Even collecting one can make a difference in the long run,” he said.

Handling the fish is another matter because of their famous venomous spines. To protect themselves, divers carry tube-shaped cases with one-way openings where they can deposit a fish directly from the spear’s tip without touching it.

The dives were all in the 90 to 130-foot range, so time on the wrecks was limited to around 20 minutes. To prepare for the outings, the NCARI dive team spent several dives conducting safety training from quarries in Wanchese on Roanoke Island and near Raleigh, as well as near-shore wrecks off Nags Head and deeper wrecks out of Oregon Inlet.

During their spearfish training, they used foam footballs as stand-ins for lionfish.

“We were able to get comfortable with the equipment ahead of time, which was important considering the depth we were dealing with and the hazards posed by the lionfish,” Harper said.

Still, on the four dives where lionfish were encountered, the team was able to harvest 95 fish.

“There’s no good way to get each and every lionfish, so we’ll see when we return how much our efforts affected their numbers,” Harper said.

The lionfish mitigation project has another extra, possibly delicious, component. Lionfish are tasty. Once cleaned, including removing those pesky venomous spines, fillets can be prepared like any other fish with white meat.

So a big part of this project is to introduce the lionfish as a delicacy to local diners by enlisting the help of Outer Banks seafood chefs, which was the focus of a Seafood Series program at the aquarium Nov. 14.

“We want to promote uses for these fish as we remove them from wrecks,” Harper says. “That includes trying out some recipes and even experimenting with lionfish fin jewelry, which is popular along the beaches in the tropics.”

Check for updates on this project and more info about the Seafood Series at http://www.ncaquariums.com/roanoke-island