Lionfish Podcasts

If you've ever looked into the lionfish community you will have heard of Lionfish University. They are the gold standard for specific lionfish work throughout the world. We sat down with Jim and Stacy, 2 of the founders of lionfish University and had a great conversation. This is by far the longest podcast we have done and it is worth listening to. Here's a little information about the founders.

Jim Hart: James is a screenwriter with numerous writing and producing credits including Hook!, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Contact, Sahara, August Rush, Crossbones, Epic, The Hot Zone, The HartChart Story Mapping Tool and others.

While working on a lionfish thriller screenplay he became interested in the impact that Lionfish are having on reef systems and on people as a geo-political and social problem in the small island nations of the Caribbean. Hart lives in NYC when he is not diving. Jim’s IMDb page.

Stacy Frank: Stacy has been an avid SCUBA diver since 1973 and lives to dive. She has a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and lives in Las Vegas with her husband.

It became clear during research for a lionfish thriller screenplay that our Caribbean reefs are being threatened by many factors, including the invasive IndoPacific lionfish. Stacy firmly believes that now is the time to face this nemesis.

Courtney Platt: Courtney is a Caymanian professional photographer who has made over 5,000 dives in Grand Cayman since 1983. He is a personal witness to the effect that over-fishing has had on our diving tourism product.

An ardent proponent to reversing that trend, he is equally concerned about the additional burden that the lionfish invasion places on reef fish recovery.

https://lionfishuniversity.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/lionfishuniversity 

If you've ever bought lionfish jewelry from Belize you've probably heard of Kaj. She is the founder of Kaj Expressions and she specializes in lionfish jewelry. We sat down in Antigua where she was teaching some lionfish jewelry classes for the locals. This was on the weekend of the Antigua Open - the country's first major tournament and festival. 

https://www.kajexpressions.com/

Lisa is the Executive Director of the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada in the beautiful Florida Keys. She is an avid scuba diver and a great friend of the Lionfish Community. She has even helped us with our submarine project and was instrumental for helping us get our first dives up and running. 

About the museum - Over a span of forty years, Drs. Joe and Sally Bauer acquired one of the world’s largest collections of diving helmets, hand-operated air pumps, armored suits, lights and other accessory gear, plus memorabilia, prints, photographs, books, film and video. Their passion took them to virtually every corner of the world and the Museum’s collection now represents the contributions of more than 30 countries to diving history.

As their research evolved and collections grew, the Bauers were inspired by the idea of using their collection—which had become one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world—as the basis for a museum to share their knowledge and passion for diving history with the public. Following the Bauers’ retirement, they moved permanently from Cleveland, Ohio to the Florida Keys, the perfect location to establish what became The History of Diving Museum.

https://www.divingmuseum.org/ 

Well it's that time of year again were I get to catch up with Ivana from sunny Curacao! Ivana is the owner of Pro Dive Vibes and she gives us an update on what's happened in the past year - and wow has she been busy!

During DEMA in Orlando I got a chance to sit down with Job from AB Dive in Bonaire. We talked about the challenges of lionfish hunting due to the rules on the island. 

Meet Patrick Smith! He’s a lionfish hunter in Key Largo in the beautiful Florida Keys.

Patrick is retired from the Army after 25 yrs of service as an Infantryman. He currently works for the Department of Environmental Protection for the State of Florida. He’s been teaching Scuba Diving for 12 years and teaches a lionfish hunter specialty course. He is also a Master Underwater Criminal Investigator. Patrick’s hobbies include scuba diving, geocaching and cycling.

Patrick enjoys the tranquility of scuba diving – hunting lionfish is just a bonus. He gets enjoyment out of knowing that he is helping the reefs by removing lionfish as an invasive animal. It is sad we have to remove them but it is necessary for our native species of fish and reefs to survive.

Patrick has been lionfish hunting since 2019 and likes how creative the community is. People have found was to make use of lionfish. The ways to make use of lionfish so they are not wasted.

Meet Arnold Postell from the South Carolina Aquarium and their first ever JuLionfish Derby! They recently finished their lionfish derby and festival and it was a great success. We sat down for a great conversation about lionfish in South Carolina and the efforts the Aquarium is trying to achieve. 

Lisette and Dunja sit down to recap the trip and Curacao Lionfish Derby. It was an incredible trip and spending time with these 2 lionfish hunters was amazing. 

Dunja and Marcel are the owners of Central Dive Curaçao and I spent a couple of dats diving with her and Lisette. Dunja is probably the best lionfish hunter on Curacao. Unique, very relaxed and just wonderful, these are our first diving feelings on Curaçao.  They dive more than 65 dive sites directly from the beach. The concept is simple: after checking in at the dive center we drive with our dive car to many different dive sites and show you the beauty of the underwater world. The qualified divers can dive on their own, they take their tanks with them and choose one of the 35 beaches available to them with the loaded rental car. From the beach you can go directly to the diving. No stress, no obligations, you can dive when and where you want. For snorkelers, many dive sites are recommended, where even non-divers can find their pleasure. https://central-dive-curacao.com/ 

I met Farra and Joline who are a couple of Freediving Lionfish Hunters in Curacao. They are doing their part to save the reefs from the invasive lionfish. While most of the lionfish hunters use SCUBA they do not. Freediving is a lot harder to do and you usually catch less. Theur story is inspiring and I'm grateful that I got the chance to meet them both!