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5. 1st Annual Cape Lookout Lionfish Rodeo/Population Control Dives
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-May 18 & 19

Price $350.00 pp

In cooperation with NOAA and REEF we will be conducting live collecting and sampling of lionfish starting May 18th & 19th. There will be more dates and details to follow, one date in which we hope to capture 150 live lionfish in the two days to study their spawning.

The general thought at this point as the lionfish seem to be here to stay is "population control" and creating a commercial market for them which will also help with the population control.

There will be an approximately 2 hour long Training Session Sunday night (hopefully) at the Aquarium, then diving Mon & Tues.

There will be training in catching, cleaning and cooking of the lionfish.

1st Annual Cape Lookout Lionfish Rodeo

and ongoing lionfish control studies

Preliminary Overview and Plan

Goals: to Increase public awareness of the indo-pacific lionfish invasion and collaborate with the dive industry in lionfish research and control efforts

Background: Indo-pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) have become well established in the Caribbean and along the US East Coast including North Carolina. Impacts of this invasion to native fisheries and ecosystems could be severe and more information is needed to better determine these impacts and identify possible solutions. Collaborations between REEF, the dive industry, public aquariums and researchers have proven to be successful in helping to not only educate the public and key user groups, but also to utilize volunteers in gathering important data to satisfy research needs.

Plan: The 1st Annual Cape Lookout Lionfish Rodeo, will be a collaborative effort between REEF, Discovery Diving Company Center, NOAA's Beaufort lab and the North Carolina Aquarium to implement awareness and training programs and to gather lionfish specimens for use in scientific research. Ongoing, monthly efforts will continue this awareness, training and collection program throughout the NC diving season.

These programs will include:

· An evening awareness and training seminar prior to each monthly collection effort

· Organized collection dives at 2 wreck sites and 2 ledges each month

· Lionfish Cook-out and Rodeo competition at the culmination of each project (most fish, largest fish, smallest fish)

· A kick-off event beginning on May 18-19 with pre-event seminars on May 17 Maximum number of paying customers on each boat will be 16

· 4 spaces on each boat will be provided at no cost for researchers

A program package fee of $350.00 will include charter, seminar, optional lodging, and funding to support organizational staff. Nets, gloves, collecting bags will be supplied for use- If REEF gets its FL Keys training budget through NOAA moving forward before the tournament, we'll bring a supply of gloves nets and bags with us for divers to use. That being said, I would think that some divers (even outside of this Rodeo) would want to purchase their own. Discovery will have some in stock in the shop for sale.

For more information or to book call 252-728-2265 (252 SCUBA-OK) or dive@DiscoveryDiving.com