The current high densities of invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) on Atlantic reefs pose a serious threat to native ecosystems. The epidemic in the Western Atlantic has been identified as one of the world’s top conservation issues (Sutherland et al., 2010). Scientists have suggested that the ongoing spread of the invasion may be controlled by native species (predators or competitors), providing biotic resistance to the invasion. While there is the potential for lionfish to be targeted as prey by large predators such as groupers and sharks, or for large predators to exert competition because of niche overlap, such predators are rare throughout the Caribbean. Relatively healthy and well-protected Cuban reefs, however, still boast abundant populations of large native apex predators. These conditions in Cuban waters presented an unprecedented opportunity to test the biotic resistance hypothesis, whereby native predators in well-enforced MPAs may be capable of curbing the lionfish invasion.
CariMar and its partners are adding new data to the debate around the biotic resistance hypothesis to the Caribbean lionfish invasion by carrying out an experimental study in and around healthy, well protected Cuban reefs, specifically well-enforced MPAs with abundant apex predators, where the removal of lionfish (culling programs) has not yet taken hold. Control sites outside the perimeter of the MPAs need to have similar reef characteristics to the experimental sites, and also must not be subjected to lionfish culls or to subsistence fishing.
CariMar and its partners are adding new data to the debate around the biotic resistance hypothesis to the Caribbean lionfish invasion by carrying out an experimental study in and around healthy, well protected Cuban reefs, specifically well-enforced MPAs with abundant apex predators, where the removal of lionfish (culling programs) has not yet taken hold. Control sites outside the perimeter of the MPAs need to have similar reef characteristics to the experimental sites, and also must not be subjected to lionfish culls or to subsistence fishing.
After an in-depth investigation of the most appropriate study site on the island conducted with our Cuban colleagues, the archipelago Jardines de la Reina (the southern boundary of the Gulf of Ana Maria, on the Cuban south coast), considered the largest MPA in the Caribbean (950 Km2), was selected as the only viable site.
There was an urgent need to capitalize on these unique conditions in Cuba and in Jardines de la Reina in particular (there is ample talk for example to expand the lionfish culling in the near future), before culling becomes a widespread management approach, which would have made this study area unsuitable to address our research question. Thanks to a Rapid Ocean Conservation (ROC) grant by the Waitt Foundation, and supplemental funding from CariMar, we were able to carry out the field component and data collection for this study in August 2014.
Through this project, CariMar and colleagues hope to answer long-standing questions posed since the onset of the lionfish epidemic. The results can contribute to developing well-informed programs and policies for controlling invasive lionfish in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Collaborators:
Dr. Mark Albins, Auburn University, USA
Dr. Pedro Chevalier, Hansel Caballero, Alexis Fernandez, Cuba
Dr. Fabian Pina, Avalon, Cuba
There was an urgent need to capitalize on these unique conditions in Cuba and in Jardines de la Reina in particular (there is ample talk for example to expand the lionfish culling in the near future), before culling becomes a widespread management approach, which would have made this study area unsuitable to address our research question. Thanks to a Rapid Ocean Conservation (ROC) grant by the Waitt Foundation, and supplemental funding from CariMar, we were able to carry out the field component and data collection for this study in August 2014.
Through this project, CariMar and colleagues hope to answer long-standing questions posed since the onset of the lionfish epidemic. The results can contribute to developing well-informed programs and policies for controlling invasive lionfish in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Collaborators:
Dr. Mark Albins, Auburn University, USA
Dr. Pedro Chevalier, Hansel Caballero, Alexis Fernandez, Cuba
Dr. Fabian Pina, Avalon, Cuba
Photos by Lizzie McNamee