Control of Lionfish in the Mesoamerican Reef

The Convention for the Conservation and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region, also known as the Cartagena Convention, and the Mesoamerican Reef Fund -MAR Fund-, recently signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the aim of work together on the conservation and sustainable management of coastal marine resources in areas of mutual importance.

As one of the first actions under the framework of this Memorandum, an initial workshop to develop the regional strategy for the control of lionfish in the MAR was held in Guatemala between 22 and 23 May 2014. The workshop allowed an exchange of experiences between the Caribbean and the Mesoamerican Reef countries.

The objectives of the workshop were:

• To begin the development of a Mesoamerican Reef Strategy for the control of lionfish based on the Caribbean Strategy.
• To have an exchange of experiences between the Caribbean and the MAR regions
• To define concrete management and control actions for this invasive exotic specie

At the end of the workshop the organizers offered a lionfish tasting and thus promote the consumption of lionfish in the population. The objective of the completion of these type of events is to control the population of this invasive species and learn more about handling and control, thus contributing to the conservation of coral reefs.

The most important result of the workshop was the generation of inputs to develop a MAR regional strategy.  We will gladly share with you the progress of this strategy.

The MAR Fund Team

As the invasion of lionfish raises among Coastal and Marine Protected Areas of the Mesoamerican Reef Region, a meeting to start with the development of a MAR lionfish control strategy is being organized.

Authorities from the four countries of the region and the international cooperation are planning to gather a well-selected group of experts in lionfish to share experiences and to prepare the basics for a MAR strategy to control this invasive species.  

Based on the Caribbean Strategy for the control of lionfish, the experts will work for two days to develop a document that, after been discussed and completed with feedback from other key actors of the region, will be finished and will hopefully become a regional strategy.

The meeting will end with a lionfish tasting prepared for an open public, in which information about the biology and ecology of lionfish.  A talk regarding why the consumption of lionfish is an effective control tool will also be presented.

We will definetly let you know how this regional meeting goes and what were its results.