Lionfish may be beautiful, but they are eating their way through ecosystems across the Caribbean, where they have few predators. In Colombia, spear fishers are now catching them — and local restaurants are hoping that more people will start to eat these venomous creatures.
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00:00Even when they're dead, lionfish are dangerous.
00:04Chefs have to carefully remove their 18 venomous spines.
00:09A sting can be very painful and even cause paralysis.
00:13That's one of the reasons it's been hard to add lionfish to restaurant menus.
00:18Even though the invasive species has terrorized the Caribbean,
00:22eating everything in its path.
00:24Many people still say, no, that fish is poisonous.
00:29So for years, fishermen ignored them.
00:32Until they no longer could.
00:34They attack the baby fish.
00:36They unbalance the ecosystem in the coral reefs.
00:40Spearfishers in places like Colombia are starting to have an impact.
00:44But they'll never catch them all.
00:47People have commented negatively attacking me, saying,
00:50why are you killing the fish?
00:52And I love it when they do that because it's like, come on in.
00:56Let's tell you why. Let me tell you why.
00:58So how bad is the lionfish problem really?
01:02And what will it take to solve it?
01:11Andres Felipe Valencia is taking a group of tourists from Santa Marta
01:15on a hunt for one of Colombia's top marine predators.
01:23Once they reach the coral reefs in Tirona National Park,
01:26they gear up and take the plunge.
01:34Spearfishing is often the only way of catching the venomous lionfish.
01:38And it's not always easy.
01:40You have to kind of hold your breath, but your adrenaline's pumping,
01:42and you're like, oh no, what do I do?
01:44And then you kind of float on in like he does when he goes to eat,
01:48and then release the spear.
01:50Their stripes act as camouflage among the reefs,
01:53where they prey on smaller fish and shrimp.
02:00Divers aim for the lionfish's throat, head, or dorsal fin.
02:05Then they remove its 18 venomous spines.
02:09Jimmy Rosero once ended up in the hospital after getting too close.
02:24Since they started hunting in this area years ago, numbers have dropped.
02:39But not this time.
02:43I don't think there's going to be enough humans to care about this
02:48to be able to eradicate it completely.
02:50But it does make a difference.
02:57Spearing lionfish one at a time is slow and expensive.
03:02But traditional fishing methods just won't work.
03:05They usually don't go for bait on hooks.
03:08And you can't use nets because they would risk damaging the reefs.
03:12Lionfish can also swim down where divers can't reach them.
03:16They've been found up to 1,000 feet deep,
03:19far beyond a recreational diver's 130-foot limit.
03:23But just 16 years ago, there weren't any here at all.
03:28Lionfish are native to the Indian and South Pacific Oceans,
03:32roughly 10,000 miles away from the Colombian coast.
03:36They became popular in aquariums across North America in the 1980s
03:40because of their striking appearance.
03:43It's thought a few were released,
03:45and it didn't take long for their population in the wild to explode.
03:49In fact, scientists have traced all the lionfish in the Caribbean,
03:53Western Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico back to just 10 females.
04:03Adolfo Sanjuan Muñoz has been researching marine ecology here for about 15 years.
04:18In the span of a few years,
04:20they spread from the coast of the U.S. to the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean.
04:25Giant eels will eat them.
04:29But lionfish have far fewer predators here compared to their native waters.
04:35While most reef fish only reproduce once a year,
04:38lionfish can do so year-round.
04:40And mature females can release roughly 30,000 eggs every four days for up to 15 years.
04:47They also have a huge appetite,
04:49feeding on more than 70 different species of fish and crustaceans.
04:53And they can grow up to 18 inches.
04:57One study from 2008 found that a single lionfish in a coral reef
05:01can reduce the number of native fish by 79 percent,
05:05including species that regulate algae growth.
05:08So, reefs are hurting too.
05:11Seven coral species in the Caribbean already have been listed as threatened
05:15because of the lionfish boom.
05:18Across the Caribbean, some lionfish programs have been more successful than others.
05:26Not all diversions are fruitful and they wear out a lot.
05:33From Venezuela to Cuba,
05:35divers are starting to see how controlling the population can help.
05:47The world's largest hunting competition is held off Florida's Gulf Coast.
05:52In 2023, divers caught a record-breaking 30,494 lionfish
05:57throughout the four-month event.
05:59But it's still a case of managing, not eradicating the problem.
06:04A 2017 study estimated that invasive fish like lionfish carp and ruff
06:09cost the U.S. over $2 billion a year.
06:15In Colombia, fishermen feel they're fighting a losing battle.
06:22Victor Rafael Quinto has been a fisherman here for over 25 years.
06:27His traps used to be full of fish and lobster.
06:31But these days, this is all he can find.
06:52That's because lionfish not only feed on baby snapper,
06:56but also outcompete grown ones for food.
06:59And here in Palomino, the water is too choppy to dive for them.
07:09It's not that lionfish isn't sellable.
07:12It goes for 30,000 pesos, or $7 per kilo,
07:16roughly the same amount as grouper or red snapper.
07:19Fishermen just aren't able to catch enough of them.
07:32And with fewer species at their disposal,
07:34it's becoming difficult for fishermen to get by,
07:37especially when you throw a hard sell like lionfish into the mix.
07:43For a few years now, a handful of restaurants in the area
07:46have set out to prove the skeptics wrong.
07:49Victor sells his catch to one called Siete Mares.
07:55Chef Claribel Gorillo started serving lionfish about three years ago.
07:59Even she had her doubts.
08:13Now she buys 15 kilograms of lionfish per week.
08:20She always uses tongs to avoid touching them directly.
08:30The dish she's preparing today is a raw-styled kibbeh
08:33with Asian and Arabic influences.
08:50She tops it off with spices, salt, and bulgur wheat.
08:55Lionfish has a mild flavor, similar to shrimp or sea bass.
09:00And more and more people are developing a taste for it.
09:20Back at Tejrona National Park,
09:22the diving crew heads to shore to cook up their own lionfish recipe.
09:33Jairo Varela used to be a park ranger here.
09:36Now he spends his time as an ecotourism guide.
09:40He's been doing this for a long time.
09:42He's been doing this for a long time.
09:44He's been doing this for a long time.
09:46Now he spends his time as an ecotourism guide,
09:49preparing lionfish for others to try.
10:01Today, he's making ceviche with it.
10:17The dish is always a hit with tourists looking for fuel
10:20after a long day of diving.
10:31He takes the rest to grill on the barbecue.
10:38Still, it's been difficult to create a steady market for lionfish.
10:42Jairo says more people have been coming to hunt them,
10:45but it hasn't been enough to turn the tide.
11:15If the lionfish doesn't attack forcefully,
11:18the beaches will be left without fish,
11:20because they're overpopulated.