# Video - Lionfish Hunting Trip 2-18-2014



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

New Video!:thumbup:


----------



## no woryz (Oct 2, 2007)

Awesome video Scott........ look at the 1:09 & the 2:15 mark in the video, notice anything unusual.... its ole Stubby......


----------



## TeaSea (Sep 28, 2013)

Goodwork fellas. Keep it up!


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

Dang! You spotted him! No tail for sure!


----------



## naclh2oDave (Apr 8, 2008)

Great video!! Thanks for taking the time to make and post it. Lots of nice fish on that pyramid.


----------



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

Awesome! Very nice planning and production.

I'll bet that red grouper was happy you guys came by.


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

WhackUmStackUm said:


> Awesome! Very nice planning and production.
> 
> I'll be that red grouper was happy you guys came by.


Thanks. Wish I could take credit for "planning" those shots!
I haven't had much time to shoot any video lately. As you know...killing lionfish is a lot of work. Alex Fogg was able to go on the last trip which gave me about 8 minutes to shoot video on one of the dives.
I was able to get some random shots on the way out, and on the spots........it just worked out.:thumbup:


----------



## snake 166 (Oct 2, 2007)

Outstanding video. Thanks. Needs widest possible distribution to provide convincing evidence of the threat. LF populating our small widely dispersed reef sites clearly have a different attachment mechanism than those observed on Natural reefs and relatively continuous reefs in the keys and elsewhere. It maybe counterproductive to continue to deploy artificial reefs until a control method is proven. You guys are doing great but just aren't enough of you.


----------



## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Holy crap.....watching that, I could only correlate the vast % of those to Odumba's welfare sponges!!!!! Taking over/breeding/doing nothing productive and sucking the life outta the worthy living creatures around!!!

Great job doing your part to extinguish a bunch of them suckers!!!


----------



## PoolBoy074 (May 2, 2012)

Awesome job!


----------



## snake 166 (Oct 2, 2007)

The video reveals another concern about the LF infestation. They are taking over the "space". Groupers and snappers use the artificial reefs more as a refuge and hideout. The LF are literally filling up the habitat. So in addition to competing for food and eating juvenile reef fish, they are physically blocking access to the reef fish refuge from predators. 

I think the rate at which the LF population has exploded---from none three years ago to 100s on a single artificial reef---is another reason to be concerned that they are a much more severe threat off the northern gulf than they are in the Atlantic where they have existed for over 20 years and should have reached a stable population.


----------



## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

snake Atlantic where they have existed for over 20 years and should have reached a stable population.[/QUOTE said:


> Why dont you think they will do the same thing here in the gulf and reach a stable population? Thats the way it works. We can just slow or speed up the process. Go get them they are great eating plus good for the diving industry.


----------



## SPRNFSH19 (Dec 19, 2011)

Just saw you guys on Channel 3 News. Very good peace. I purchased my lion fish killing gear this winter. Ready to do my part. Keep the videos coming.:thumbsup:


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

SPRNFSH19 said:


> Just saw you guys on Channel 3 News. Very good peace. I purchased my lion fish killing gear this winter. Ready to do my part. Keep the videos coming.:thumbsup:


LOL! They got the numbers confused! They said we took 50-100 fish on each trip!.....should have been per dive....300-400 per trip!
Oh well....good to get the coverage anyway!
http://www.weartv.com/news/features...continue-threat-gulf-42006.shtml#.Uw_2v5K9KSO


----------



## snake 166 (Oct 2, 2007)

Sealark---They will likely reach a stable population in the northern gulf but it may be to the exclusion of many species of native reef fish. Divers are doing an excellent job of identifying the problem but they aren't the solution. Not enough divers. Not cost effective. Commercial fishery isn't a solution either---fish are too small, labor intensive per pound of product. Some as yet undiscovered natural control would be best but trapping with a bounty should get a hard look in the interim. State/Feds need to put some bucks behind this and get after it before we have a collapse in our reef fishery.


----------



## Billybob+ (Jul 12, 2011)

THAT sounds like a great idea! The Feds and State seem to "fix" everything else with money, like healthcare and immigration and homelessness, and hunger. No doubt! Fed and State money is the answer! Maybe we could get Sebilius to run it! Or we could give the money for management to Kenneth Feinberg.



snake 166 said:


> ........ State/Feds need to put some bucks behind this and get after it before we have a collapse in our reef fishery.


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> THAT sounds like a great idea! The Feds and State seem to "fix" everything else with money, like healthcare and immigration and homelessness, and hunger. No doubt! Fed and State money is the answer! Maybe we could get Sebilius to run it! Or we could give the money for management to Kenneth Feinberg.


I think he just means that they should give us back some of the $ we give to them on every fishing license.
The $ have to come from somewhere....Private organization would probably be better....but they would have to fight the Feds, and State to actually do anything.
It would be nice if the Government would serve their intended purpose, and defend infrastructure.....with no hidden agendas.

I know a lot of people believe that nature will find a balance. It might seem that the East coast has found a balance - since they don't see the numbers that we do.
I'd just like to propose a frightening hypothesis:
Its known that the lionfish started on the east coast, and "migrated" around the keys, and finally into our area.
Its also known that lionfish don't move very far once they find a reef to inhabit ( like less than 100 feet.)
So the Question is how did they get here from the east coast?!
Answer: The Gulf Loop Current!
Lionfish eggs float on the surface for 29 days. They are in venom filled sacks - which nothing eats. Once they are ready to hatch, they separate, and "snow" down on unsuspecting reefs. 
My fear - and current theory...is that the east coast has stabilized because the eggs from those adults don't stay in that area! They float downstream - to us - and are deposited on our reefs in a steady snow of young predators.
I don't think the system of checks and balances works if you have an un-ending supply of predators flooding in from an outside area.
Therefore - I don't think that we will reach equilibrium, until enough of the food source is destroyed - that most of the young lionfish starve to death....along with the fry of every other fish we know and love!! I believe that this level of decimation would be much worse than if the lionfish population had to survive and reproduce in a seqregated area.
Most reproduction slows or stops as a food source is depleated, but in this instance....the food source and reproduction arent linked to the levels of available food in THIS area.
This type of "balance" if you want to call it - is just that the scales of the balance have tipped so far in one direction , that they cannot tip any further. It is a broken system....not a true balance.
I don't want to explore that possible future if I don't have to.
I hope I'm wrong....but I don't have any scientific evidence that contradicts this theory.
I would propose a "prize" ....like others offered by scientific, government, and private organizations. lets call it the "Gulf Coast Preservation Prize"!!! The Prize would go to the first company that found a workable control method.
This method of funding has worked for many other projects that would have been ignored otherwise.
Throw a few million out there for a prize, and see if the impossible doesn't all-of-a-sudden become possible!
Does not cost a dime if no solution is found.....and a few million would be cheap to rid ourselves of this invader.


----------



## Billybob+ (Jul 12, 2011)

I like your quote "I hope I'm wrong....but I don't have any scientific evidence that contradicts this theory." most!

clearly spoken from someone who has spent much time researching this theory.
only problem is, using your "hypothesis" , the dominant loop currents would actually carry the eggs OUT of the gulf and UP the East coast, but don't let that bit of "Science" concern you....it shouldn't be enough to debunk your theory.:whistling:



first, you'd


Firefishvideo said:


> I think he just means that they should give us back some of the $ we give to them on every fishing license.
> The $ have to come from somewhere....Private organization would probably be better....but they would have to fight the Feds, and State to actually do anything.
> It would be nice if the Government would serve their intended purpose, and defend infrastructure.....with no hidden agendas.
> 
> ...


----------



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> ...only problem is, using your "hypothesis"...


This type of response does not help. What do you have to contribute to the conversation?


----------



## Billybob+ (Jul 12, 2011)

FACTS!!!

like Loop currents would carry them from WEST to EAST...what problem do you have responding to FACTS!

Or is this like "global warming" is "Man Caused" we don't dare let facts get in the way.

It is OK to offer alternate information isn't it? Especially based in fact





WhackUmStackUm said:


> This type of response does not help. What do you have to contribute to the conversation?


----------



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> FACTS!!!
> 
> like Loop currents would carry them from WEST to EAST...what problem do you have responding to FACTS!
> 
> ...


What lionfish "facts" do you have to add to the dicussion?


----------



## Billybob+ (Jul 12, 2011)

HE had stated that he had "no scientific evidence to contradict his Hypothesis" I simply offered some easily discovered information that COMPLETELY debunks his hypothesis as stated. 

IF you truly are concerned about the lionfish, then you should at least be open to factual information regarding your hypothesis ....typical alarmist protocol. If it doesn't fit your mantra, squelch it!






WhackUmStackUm said:


> What lionfish "facts" do you have to add to the dicussion?


----------



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> HE had stated that he had "no scientific evidence to contradict his Hypothesis" I simply offered some easily discovered information that COMPLETELY debunks his hypothesis as stated.
> 
> IF you truly are concerned about the lionfish, then you should at least be open to factual information regarding your hypothesis ....typical alarmist protocol. If it doesn't fit your mantra, squelch it!


Ok, so you don't have anything constructive to add.

I can point interested readers to some related facts. The "Loop Current" travels clockwise from the Yucatan to the Florida Straits. During most times of the year is does not come very far north and lies far south Pensacola. There is a regular loop current eddy that travels north up the west side of the peninsula of Florida.

End facts...begin conjecture:
It seems unlikely to me that currents could carry lionfish eggs from the East Coast to the Gulf. However, due to the Loop Current eddy that travels north from the Florida Straights along the west coast of the Florida peninsula, it seems possible that lionfish eggs could travel north from the Keys into our area. This is consistent with the USGS lionfish report time-lapse map (http://nas.er.usgs.gov/taxgroup/fish/lionfishdistribution.aspx). 

You can find more information about Gulf currents here:
http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/atlantic/loop-current.html
http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/atlantic/spaghetti-bw.html


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

O.K. billy, you have me on the loop current - I was mis-informed, and obviously had the direction wrong.
I had it upside down.
I should have said the EDDY current, and the influx is from the Yucatan and Cuba. 
Those fish supposedly came from the east coast.....so the F if I know how they made that jump.... I guess I was looking at a map of the invasion - and didn't realize that the movement from east coast down into the Bahamas and Cuba was not facilitated by a current......but It does not matter.
My point still stands - that as long as the ecosystem is not a closed system, and you have an un-ending supply of predators supplied into the system from ANOTHER AREA ...it cannot balance itself in a natural manner.


----------



## Billybob+ (Jul 12, 2011)

And then why does Panama City not have the problem and Louisianna?

assuming it's a loop current distribution




WhackUmStackUm said:


> Ok, so you don't have anything constructive to add.
> 
> I can point interested readers to some related facts. The "Loop Current" travels clockwise from the Yucatan to the Florida Straits. During most times of the year is does not come very far north and lies far south Pensacola. There is a regular loop current eddy that travels north up the west side of the peninsula of Florida.
> 
> ...


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> HE had stated that he had "no scientific evidence to contradict his Hypothesis" I simply offered some easily discovered information that COMPLETELY debunks his hypothesis as stated.
> 
> IF you truly are concerned about the lionfish, then you should at least be open to factual information regarding your hypothesis ....typical alarmist protocol. If it doesn't fit your mantra, squelch it!


I'm not squelching $hit ....You didn't give me a chance to reply. 
I'd have to define an alarmist as someone that over-reacts to a situation without taking a good look at it first.
I believe I ...as well as my fellow divers have had a pretty damn good look at this thing. We are still sorting through the data....but I'm pretty comfortable sounding the alarm without feeling that I'm an alarmist.


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> And then why does Panama City not have the problem and Louisianna?
> 
> assuming it's a loop current distribution


Who the hell told you that they didn't have lionfish!?
Bad thing about fish counts - they are subject to being skewed by the ability of the people taking them.
We have some BAD A$$ divers here....that know how to target them.....so maybe be have more information on this area because of the People .....not because the fish don't exist in other places. We know they do.


----------



## Billybob+ (Jul 12, 2011)

I didn't say you were squelching contrary opinion. I said W&S was.

Is your vocabulary so small that you have to throw profanity out?

Forgive me for daring to question the "gods"

My hypothesis, should I dare give it, is they will reach a homeostasis 
probably sooner than later based on the sites I'm diving. We will see.

I'm done, continue on





Firefishvideo said:


> I'm not squelching $hit ....You didn't give me a chance to reply.
> I'd have to define an alarmist as someone that over-reacts to a situation without taking a good look at it first.
> I believe I ...as well as my fellow divers have had a pretty damn good look at this thing. We are still sorting through the data....but I'm pretty comfortable sounding the alarm without feeling that I'm an alarmist.


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> I didn't say you were squelching contrary opinion. I said W&S was.
> 
> Is your vocabulary so small that you have to throw profanity out?
> 
> ...


 Yah... you got me billy...I'm an idiot.
I'm a carpenter by trade....I cuss when I'm aggravated....man up and get over it.
That being said ....its not the argument I'm aggravated by....its your attitude and willingness to attack but not to contribute. Hell, I love a good argument....its how things are figured out!
By the way....which sites are you diving.....we have probably cleared them.....so of course you would think that things are settling out.


----------



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> And then why does Panama City not have the problem and Louisianna?
> 
> assuming it's a loop current distribution


I have heard reports of large numbers of lionfish in Panama City. Sounds like the densities there may be similar to what we see here.

The USGS map shows lionfish reports from Louisiana, and Texas. See http://nas.er.usgs.gov/taxgroup/fish...tribution.aspx


----------



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

Billybob+ said:


> I didn't say you were squelching contrary opinion. I said W&S was...


The point I was trying to make is that we should be able to disagree without being assholes.


----------



## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Now Girls quit the arguing,:no: There will be plenty of time in the next month to do more. The winds of March look like they are just around the corner. Went out yesterday (Fri) to the 1 to 2 forecast and was met with 3 to 5 ft offshore. Looks like next week will be a blow also.Got two legal AJs and came limping back in. No lions were spotted on the three public spots.:yes::thumbup::thumbup:


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

sealark said:


> Now Girls quit the arguing,:no: There will be plenty of time in the next month to do more. The winds of March look like they are just around the corner. Went out yesterday (Fri) to the 1 to 2 forecast and was met with 3 to 5 ft offshore. Looks like next week will be a blow also.Got two legal AJs and came limping back in. No lions were spotted on the three public spots.:yes::thumbup::thumbup:


Thanks for the report Sealark! 
Were you diving around the FWCEE reefs ? Penhall?
We are headed out this morning.....but probably going to get hammered by the 3.5 second average period.


----------



## Redtracker (Dec 28, 2011)

Billybob+=idiot? ????????


----------



## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Firefishvideo said:


> Thanks for the report Sealark!
> Were you diving around the FWCEE reefs ? Penhall?
> We are headed out this morning.....but probably going to get hammered by the 3.5 second average period.


No dove the lex barge,pc barge and another barge.


----------



## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Redtracker said:


> Billybob+=idiot? ????????


Red tracker you are the idiot for posting that when someone is just stating an opinion. Why dont you listen analyse and then post your opinion. You could learn something...


----------



## Redtracker (Dec 28, 2011)

sealark said:


> Red tracker you are the idiot for posting that when someone is just stating an opinion. Why dont you listen analyse and then post your opinion. You could learn something...


I did listen....and still believe in my post..


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

sealark said:


> No dove the lex barge,pc barge and another barge.


O.K. Thanks.
We dove Green's hole, Penhall 1 and 2 , Tug Phillips, and a battle tank.
Average # of lions on all. Some of the bigger lions I've seen on Penhall 1....measuring 15.5 inches. One was about 15 and 7/8".

Waves battered us on the way out....but calmed a bit after we got out further.
Nice Diving, pretty water. Water temp was 59 on tug Phillips.

This thread is way off track (my fault) ....WATCH THE COOL VIDEO!:thumbsup:


----------



## BamaJohn (Aug 10, 2008)

*Makes me miss diving...*

Bought a boat so I could go more and then most of my buddies moved on to other hobbies. Watching that video brought back fond memories but due to back issues diving is out of the question now.

Keep banging them lions... and thanks for the video.:thumbsup:


----------



## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

BamaJohn said:


> Bought a boat so I could go more and then most of my buddies moved on to other hobbies. Watching that video brought back fond memories but due to back issues diving is out of the question now.
> 
> Keep banging them lions... and thanks for the video.:thumbsup:


Glad you enjoyed it!
If you haven't seen them....I have more local U/W videos at my website: www.firefishvideo.com or just go to my youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/bsbartel

Thanks, Scott.


----------

