Utila celebrated its first lionfish derby and cookoff! Organized by Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) and Utila Center for Marine Ecology (UCME), with the involvement of multiple dive shops and other community members, this was a great first-time event.
Date of the catching derby was Friday, April 29th. Teams were organized through the dive shops, with 22 teams of four people participating. This resulted in 429 lionfish killed in just one day!
Lionfish are a highly invasive species in the Caribbean. Their presence and detrimental effects throughout the Caribbean, including Belize, and Bay Islands, have been well documented. An “invasive species” means not only that the species was introduced to the area (in this case, “area” meaning the Caribbean at large; the introduction likely being accidental through aquariums in Florida and Bahamas), but ALSO that the introduced species has harmful impacts on the native species. In the case of lionfish, they are native to Indian and Pacific oceans, but here, they have no substantial active predators, and they aggressively destroy the local fish populations. (Some preliminary research is being done on shark and grouper predation on lionfish, however the predation seems to be on an individual case by case basis and not at the levels needed to actively control lionfish populations- though that may change in the future.) In simple terms- lionfish can destroy the local fish populations on a reef, and don’t have any substantial predators to keep their numbers in check.
To follow up on the Derby, there was a cookoff on Sunday May 1 at The Champa at Chepes Beach. Lionfish are safe to eat and tasty- the venom is in the spine, not the flesh, and cooking destroys residual toxins. Care must be taken in preparing the the fish, as the spines can have a powerful sting, but guidance was on hand to show newcomers how to safely prepare these fish. Five chefs / cooks from the island creating delicious recipes: Peter from Utopia Resort made a fantastic lionfish curry, John Souza came up with pan fried lionfish cakes which quickly disappeared, a tasty lionfish ceviche was made by Anders from the Utila Aggressor, Urs Zuger prepared a delicious fried lionfish, and Jenny Luque mixed up a lionfish bando—a traditional dish which was the most popular among the locals that tried the lionfish.
There was also an awards ceremony with the following awards:
1. Most lionfish caught by Dive Centre:Deep Blue Divers, 90 lionfish
2. Most lionfish caught as a Team:Technical Knock Out, UDC, 56 lionfish
3. Biggest lionfish caught: Underwater Vision Staff, Underwater Vision, 30.4cm
4. Smallest lionfish caught: Mexican Gingers, BICD. 6.3cm
Participating Dive Centers (in alphabetical order): Alton Dive Shop, BICD (Bay Islands College of Diving), Coral View Hotel and Dive Shop, Cross Creek, Deep Blue, Ecomarine, Laguna Beach Resort, Parrots Dive Shop, Underwater Vision, Utila Dive Center (UDC)
Mónica Sofía Pérez, a key organizer of the event from BICA added, “Thank you to John Souza and Steve (La Pirata Charters) for fileting all the fish for us; Dave Steffan for supporting us in everything and making sure we were alright, Pamela Ortega, Jenny Luque, Gisselle Morales, Michelle Fernandez, and Roger Mehrer for stepping in to help in any way possible; John, Peter, Anders, Jenny and Urs for cooking the delicious plates; Elke Blynn art work and Urs Zuger wood work whose efforts combine result in this beautiful plaques; Andi and Brad Ryon for helping us promote the event through the web at www.UtilaGuide.com and Brad’s facebook page for Utila Realty; And to all the dive centres that participated and the divers that took active roll in conservation. Everybody that attended and supported the event…Thank you.
The Utila lionfish derby and cookoff was a great first step in raising awareness of this threat to our reefs, and explore control efforts for this invasive species. We look forward to some of the restaurants serving lionfish on a regular basis here on Utila!
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For more on Utila see https://www.UtilaGuide.com
See YouTube Video Interview with Chef John Souza Here!
