Red Sail Sports Offers Free Scuba Diving in Grand Cayman to Hunt Lionfish

Red Sail Sports Grand Canyon is offering a free scuba dive to certified divers this weekend to hunt for the invasive red lionfish that are harming the island's reefs.

The one-tank dive is open to anyone who is properly trained to hunt lionfish with spears or nets, from tourists taking scuba diving holidays in Grand Cayman, to local divers and volunteers.

The event have token place on Saturday 28th January, 2012 and is in partnership with Foster's Food Fair who has contributed $20,000 towards the scuba diving expenses. The captured fish will go on sale at the fish market at local Foster's Food Fair on Monday morning and a percentage of the fish sold will go towards an operational fund that will help pay for the monthly lionfish dives.

Image by berniedup, on Flickr.

Lionfish are colourful species with venomous spiky tentacles that are not only used to catch prey but can also be dangerous to fisherman and divers. They are territorial towards other reef fish and because they have no known predators, they pose a threat to delicate reef systems.

Lionfish arrived in the waters surrounding the Cayman Islands three years ago and as they continue to multiply, they are threatening smaller reef fish. By removing them, native species are able to grow and balance can be restored to the coral ecosystem.
Conservation groups are encouraging fishermen and divers to catch lionfish and eat them as lionfish fillet is light and delicately flavoured. There is also a lionfish cookbook available that features 45 delicious recipes.

Image by Mark Lightfoot, on Flickr.

Rod McDowall, the Operations Manager of Red Sail Sports, explained: "If weather conditions permit, the first dives will hunt for Lionfish on the lesser-dived reefs of the island's North Side and East End where they have thrived.

"For some time now operators have been culling the reefs on the West Side where Grand Cayman's most popular dive sites are located."

Image by directdivers, on Flickr.

Red Sail Sports will provide all scuba diving equipment for the scuba diving adventures and lionfish spotters are also required.

The Cayman Islands are one of the top scuba diving destinations in the Caribbean and last year the three islands were recognised at the 2011 Readers' Choice Awards in Scuba Diving magazine, winning first place in the in the wall diving category and the overall experience category.

During scuba diving holidays in Grand Cayman, divers can explore the 252-foot, 2,200-ton USS Kittiwake that now sits on the ocean bed off the coast of the Seven Mile Beach and is a popular scuba diving attraction as well as a thriving artificial reef.