Divers catch record 31,773 venomous fish in tournament off Florida coast. ‘Awe-inspiring’

Hundreds of tournament divers raced until the last minute to bring in a record-breaking haul of more than 31,000 venomous lionfish, Florida officials said.

The state’s annual competition to remove the invasive species wrapped up Sept. 2, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Sept. 13 in a news release.

The competitors had about three and a half months to catch as many lionfish as they could, doing their part to help eliminate the species from the Florida waters where they’ve proliferated, officials say.

Confronted by the rise of harmful, non-native animals like Burmese pythons and lionfish, the state has turned to public tournaments to curb these species’ numbers in the wild, whether in the Everglades or the ocean.

Wildlife experts have been monitoring the lionfish population since the species first appeared off the coast of South Florida in 1985. Lionfish eat native fish and compete for food with commercial species, such as snapper and grouper, affecting both the ecosystem and economy, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

They’re also known to eat creatures that consume algae on coral, in turn increasing the amount of algae on reefs.

This year’s tournament saw an “awe-inspiring” 31,773 lionfish removed from the ecosystem, “shattering” the previous record of 30,494 set in 2023, the FWC said.

The numbers of divers remained about the same as in 2023, even though an additional 1,000 fish were caught this year, with 285 competitors submitting harvests from more than 700 dives, officials said.

“The Lionfish Challenge raises awareness of this invasive species and serves as a great way to get people outdoors and involved in conservation by removing invasive lionfish,” FWC Executive Director Roger Young said in the release.

The same Duval County man was once again crowned “Lionfish King,” bringing in 915 lionfish in 2024 but falling short of his 2023 haul of 1,514, records show. Another Duval County man won the commercial category with 1,785 pounds of lionfish.

Divers have to be careful not to touch one of the lionfish’s 18 venomous spines. They can use spears or nets to catch the fish, which can be eaten once the spines are removed, according to NOAA.

But other than the divers jumping in the water to remove them, lionfish have few predators in the wild.

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