Literature Review of Gear-based Management Options in the Caribbean for Four Reef Fishing Methods: Fish Traps, Spears, Hook and Line, and Beach Seines

Many Caribbean reef fisheries have been overexploited for decades and often their decline has been accelerated by a loss of habitat. Improved management of Caribbean reef fisheries is vital to ensure their future sustainability. Reef fisheries in the Caribbean are difficult to manage due to the use of multiple fishing gear types, the number of species harvested, and the dispersed landing sites used by the fishers. Additionally, there is very little published information available on Caribbean reef fisheries and limited research into the effects of management. This review provides a synthesis of the published literature on four gears commonly used in Caribbean reef fisheries: fish traps, spears, hook and line, and beach seines, summarizing evidence on best management practices for each gear. The authors provide brief descriptions of each of the four gear types as well a synthesis of their use, biological impacts, and ecosystem impacts.The management recommendations are general recommendations on gear restrictions that could be applied to any Caribbean reef fishery

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Belize National Lionfish Management Strategy 2019-2023

Across the Caribbean, the invasion of red lionfish (Pterois volitans) poses a pervasive threat to marine ecosystems and coastal fishing communities. First recorded in Belize in 2008, lionfish have become well established across the country's entire marine environment. Uncontrolled, invasive lionfish populations disrupt marine food webs, negatively impacting coral reef health and fisheries productivity, thereby undermining the resilience of coral reefs and reef-associated systems to global change.This document describes how to design and implement an integrated approach to lionfish management – incorporating environmental, social and economic wellbeing goals – and provides specific recommendations for the adaptive management of lionfish in Belize

Biology, ecology, control and management of the invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish: An updated integrated assessment

Venomous Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois miles and P. volitans) are now established along the Southeast U.S.A. and parts of the Caribbean and pose a serious threat to reef fish communities of these regions. Lionfish are likely to invade the Gulf of Mexico and potentially South America in the near future. Introductions of lionfish were noted since the 1980s along south Florida and by 2000 lionfish were established off the coast of North Carolina. Lionfish are now one of the more numerous predatory reef fishes at some locations off the Southeast U.S.A. and Caribbean. Lionfish are largely piscivores that feed occasionally on economically important reef fishes. The trophic impacts of lionfish could alter the structure of native reef fish communities and potentially hamper stock rebuilding efforts of the Snapper –Grouper Complex. Additional effects of the lionfish invasion are far-reaching and could increase coral reef ecosystem stress, threaten human health, and ultimately impact the marine aquarium industry. Control strategies for lionfish are needed to mitigate impacts, especially in protected areas. This integrated assessment provides a general overview of the biology and ecology of lionfish including genetics, taxonomy, reproductive biology, early life history and dispersal, venom defense and predation, and feeding ecology. In addition, alternative management actions for mitigating the negative impacts of lionfish, approaches for reducing the risk of future invasions, and directions for future research are provided

Controlling an Invasive Species through Consumption: The Case of Lionfish as an Impure Public Good

Nonnative lionfish were introduced to the coastal waters of southern Florida about 30 years ago. Since then, lionfish populations have rapidly grown and spread throughout the Caribbean, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Without a significant predator and a voracious appetite, the lionfish invasion has significantly altered the population dynamics of native marine species. Examining the efficacy of potential methods to control the growing population of lionfish is now a top priority across Gulf state fisheries. One strategy being advocated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is a “if you can’t beat them, eat them” campaign. As lionfish are not available at market, we conduct a field experiment to elicit seafood consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) to eat lionfish as a private good and for the public good component of a campaign to help control the growing population. Using the Becker-Degroot-Marschak method and eliciting WTP values from 313 seafood consumers, we find that consumers’ baseline WTP (based on prior-held beliefs) is about $5.50 for a 3-ounce serving. This indicates that a demand exists that could potentially lead to a viable commercial lionfish fishery to develop in the Gulf. Further, we find that consumers value the public good component of their behavior and are willing to pay an additional$1.58 above baseline to support the campaign. Disentangling this effect, we find that $0.63 of this premium is due to consumers’ WTP to help control the growing population, with an additional$0.95 to help avoid the localized extinction of reef-fish species.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Evaluating the Potential Efficacy of Invasive Lionfish (Pterois volitans) Removals

The lionfish, Pterois volitans (Linnaeus) and Pterois miles (Bennett), invasion of the Western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico has the potential to alter aquatic communities and represents a legitimate ecological concern. Several local removal programs have been initiated to control this invasion, but it is not known whether removal efforts can substantially reduce lionfish numbers to ameliorate these concerns. We used an age-structured population model to evaluate the potential efficacy of lionfish removal programs and identified critical data gaps for future studies. We used high and low estimates for uncertain parameters including: length at 50% vulnerability to harvest (Lvul), instantaneous natural mortality (M), and the Goodyear compensation ratio (CR). The model predicted an annual exploitation rate between 35 and 65% would be required to cause recruitment overfishing on lionfish populations for our baseline parameter estimates for M and CR (0.5 and 15). Lionfish quickly recovered from high removal rates, reaching 90% of unfished biomass six years after a 50-year simulated removal program. Quantifying lionfish natural mortality and the size-selective vulnerability to harvest are the most important knowledge gaps for future research. We suggest complete eradication of lionfish through fishing is unlikely, and substantial reduction of adult abundance will require a long-term commitment and may be feasible only in small, localized areas where annual exploitation can be intense over multiple consecutive years

The Consumption of Lionfish as a Control of an Invasive Species in Bermuda

This research focuses on how lionfish are affecting the waters of the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic Ocean, and the practices in place to control the lionfish invasion. The presence of lionfish in these areas is a significant problem because of the detrimental effect they have on coral reef ecosystems. Countries in the Atlantic that are directly dependent on underwater ecosystems for their economy, and the global underwater environment in general, are at risk. My research aimed to determine if consuming lionfish can be a viable way of reducing lionfish in Bermuda. I approached this question by surveying three categories of people in Bermuda: commercial fishermen, professional chefs, and members of the general public. There is a significant group of the population able to catch lionfish as well as a signification portion of chefs willing to learn how to prepare and serve lionfish. In order to establish a sustainable lionfish fishery, there needs to be modifications to fishing laws as well as efforts that encourage the sale of lionfish in restaurants

A Review of Present and Alternative Lionfish Controls in the Western Atlantic

Lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) are the first recorded invasive piscivore in the Caribbean and have become a threat to native species. As generalist consumers, lionfish have a broad diet and reduce prey and competitor abundance and juvenile recruitment. To confront this problem, this paper serves to review all of the current and alternative future controls available to manage lionfish populations in the Western Atlantic and determine where focus is lacking. Derby and cull efforts are the only management efforts in place and are not effective in their current state as these local events have short-term benefits, but lionfish populations recover quickly. Alternative strategies to culls include the use of biological controls and genetic engineering. Both strategies have their associated risks and ethical concerns, but may provide significant levels of control. Biological control agents include the introduction of parasites or disease from their native range that specifically target lionfish or the recovery and conditioning of natural Western Atlantic predators to consume lionfish. Genetic modification is gaining public acceptance for use against pest species and therefore, if made as safe as possible, could provide some of the best results for controlling lionfish. Quantitative analysis of derby and cull data revealed that focus is lacking in key locations throughout the Western Atlantic such as Cuba and the Meso-American Barrier Reef. The vast majority of derbies were located along the U.S. Eastern and Gulf coast. However, lionfish controls must implement in regions of the greatest larval connectivity to reduce the amount of larval recruitment and subsequent recovery of adult populations after local removals. Monthly, basin-wide removals of 20% lionfish biomass were determined to be the most effective strategy, reducing lionfish biomass to near-zero levels in only 36 months. Therefore, to effectively reduce lionfish biomass in the Western Atlantic, an international strategy is needed to produce management efforts in all regions simultaneously

They are here to stay: The biology and ecology of lionfish (Pterois miles ) in the Mediterranean Sea

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