It pison! Me nah wan fi eat dat fish.
Mi kyaan bother wi dat fish, there’s no market.
It one lab fish. Mi eat it you know, but mi know it one lab fish.
It not dangerous, right? Mi eat it already! It taste nice.

These were among the many things we heard last week during a series of three Lionfish education workshops held at fishing beaches across Portland. Some people were thoughtful, some theories were wild. All in all, an interesting couple of days.

Fisherman from Prospect beach in Porty proudly displays the lionfish he caught.

A fisherman at Old Marina fishing beach in Port Antonio cleaning the fish.

The Lionfish problem is a massive one in Jamaica. It hits on tourism, local economy of fishermen and natural disasters. Lionfish are voracious hunters, and their appetite seems never to be satisfied. Local fish populations are not used to this invasive species, and with its camouflaged appearance, they probably think it’s just a bit of food to be eaten in the reef. All the Lionfish need to is open their mouth and wait. They can eat fish almost as large as they are, and they are indiscriminate eaters, chomping on crustaceans and all number of reef fish. Female Lionfish can have up to 2 million eggs per year. Right now there are no natural predators of this fish in the Caribbean. You can see why it’s a problem!

Cutting off the dorsal spines.

This is an issue for tourism because many people come to Jamaica to scuba dive, snorkel, and enjoy beautiful and healthy coastal waters. With fish numbers and species being depleted, the view is not so lovely. Sadly, here the Lionfish problem came on the back of many other issues threatening biodiversity of coastal waters and reef health. However, if Lionfish numbers can be stabilized and weakened over time, it will be a very positive step in the right direction for rehabilitation of the reefs and fish.

Fishing boats and gear at Old Marina fishing beach.

With juvenile reef fish populations being depleted, fishermen are also noticing a marked decline in the coastal fish population. They are forced to go further and further from shore to catch fish, and deeper and deeper down to dive for them. This is dangerous for the fishermen, as well as more costly and less productive for them overall. Plus, it will just keeping getting worse if something doesn’t change.

Kids fishing at Old Marina

Lastly, healthy reefs are an important barrier to have during hurricane season. People in Portland and St. Thomas know that all too well. Weakening biodiversity weakens the reef, and with no reef there is no protection against storm surges and hurricanes.

Cooking up lionfish in Buff Bay.

SO, this is why I am very happy to be working on the issue of Lionfish here in Jamaica. Busting the myth that they are poisonous, educating people on how to properly handle them, and reaching out to hotels and restaurants to put them on the menu are part of our approach to popularize it. People have been very successful in the past of overfishing particular species, so we are hoping that this becomes another case!

Lionfish seasoned with scotch bonnet, scallion, garlic, onion and salt. Yum!

Now if only we can convince people that it wasn’t actually a lab fish created by the US to flood the Caribbean and eat all the fish that they like…