Over 30 thousand lionfish were
removed from Florida waters during this year's lionfish challenge.
This was the tenth year of the
event, which generally runs from June through September.
Lionfish are a nonnative,
invasive species that threaten Florida’s native saltwater fish and wildlife.
They were introduced into
Florida waters in the late 1980s but their population has boomed in recent
years – and that is causing real problems for native species in Florida waters.
The Lionfish challenge was
created to allow fishermen to remove as many lionfish from Florida waters as
they can and to win prizes while doing it.
This year over 500 people
submitted lionfish in the competition.
There were no local people in
the winner's circle this year.
The First place Lionfish King
was Paul Carson of Palm Beach, who removed 1542 lionfish and the First place
Commercial Champion was Donald Vautrinot of Walton County, who removed 1161
pounds of the invasive fish.
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