Lion Fish Hunt

As you may or may not know Lion Fish are an invasive species of fish that are found in great numbers in the reefs here in the Caribbean. They feed on the fish found here and as yet do not appear to have a predator that will keep the numbers under control. They are a lovely looking fish but have very nasty poisonous barbs on their dorsal fins so need to be treated with respect! Many of the Dive Centres here offer a Lion Fish Hunt and I went on one with Scuba Tech recently. I was pretty sure before the dive that I would be a Lion Fish spotter down there rather than a hunter! We used a small Trident that was propelled by what seemed to be a large rubber band which meant you had to get very close to have any success. Lion Fish tend to hide in the nooks and crannies found in reefs and can be hard to spot but once you've found one they seemed very obliging and would stay very still allowing you to get a good shot in. I was still hopeless at it but I did manage to spot a couple and allow others on the dive to complete the tricky bit! Once caught they are collected in a tube to be carried back up to the dive boat once the dive is completed.

In Halifax Bay we managed to catch around 30 fish in two 50 minute dives.

Once back at the Dive Centre it was time for the barbecue but not before the fish had been filleted. Ackie was obviously very skilled at this and he showed me how it was done..... it was the peeling off of the skin that I found to be the tricky bit! The fillets were meaty and delicious barbecued with a dash of olive oil,lemon juice and herbs.