It’s a different world, 75 feet under. At least, it feels that way at Six Mile Reef, just off Stuart’s coast.\u00a0It’s a world that’s been threatened by the fish Rick Dahn is hunting: the lionfish.<\/p>\n
Dahn and four other divers boarded the boat, “Irish Rover” in Port Salerno at dawn Saturday and motored away, for the 2nd Annual Lionfish Round-up.\u00a0Captain Kerry Dillon directed the crew right above the natural reef. They geared up and plopped in the water, with hopes of making a small dent on a big problem.<\/p>\n
“We got underwater, and there they were. Lionfish. Every 20, 30 feet another lionfish,” said Dillon, who owns Sea Rover Services.<\/p>\n
Scientists say the venomous fish may have changed eco-systems forever.<\/p>\n
Lionfish are an invasive species that showed up about 20 years ago in small numbers, according to Dr. Jim Masterson. He’s a biologist at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce.<\/p>\n
“It’s not supposed to be here,” he said of the fish. It’s non-native and has no natural predators. Dr. Masterson says the fish might be out-competing other animals and eating the next generation of important fisheries before they can mature.<\/p>\n
Florida Sea Grant says they’re becoming increasingly common on the Treasure Coast. Smithsonian Magazine reports the fish may have hurt tourism and commercial fishing.<\/p>\n
The huge problem may have improved a tiny bit, when the local crew turned in about 40 lionfish.<\/p>\n