This article describes the growing epidemic of large numbers of lion fish off the Bermuda coast. The venomous predator will essentially consume anything in it's path and can destroy 90% of a reef. Preservationists are concerned both for the well being of the reef and the aquatic life that surrounds it. Theories as to why the lionfish population have increased ironically point back to the fish's only known predator, humans. The fish aren't actually native to this area, but were brought here by humans and their numbers have grown rapidly since. Scientists are scrambling for information at this point, however, the depths to which the fish can dive present a unique problem as the animal flees before divers can retrieve adequate data. There is a fear amongst the scientific community that the predator can't be beaten. Humans are the only source that can correct the situation, which is fitting considering we caused it.
The damage this problem could have on the reef environment could be catastrophic. I understand more research is necessary to fully grasp the situation at hand, but at this point the primary concern should be preservation of the reef. The fault does, after all, fall upon us, because we brought the fish and allowed them into this territory. Therefore, shouldn't it fall on us to correct the problem? The fact of the matter is, these fish are damaging to the environment and need to be stopped or at the very least reduced.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/18/tech/innovation/lionfish-infestation-atlantic-linendoll/?iref=obinsite
I wonder...would it be considered cruelty to just poison the fish? I mean i wouldn't want to wipe out the population but it's not like people don't catch kill and consume huge quantities of fish every day. But yet it sounds sort of cruel. I would say preserve the balance of nature but the problem is that humans disturbed it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteByron Otis- to Nasya- I'm not sure how plausible it would be to poison just one species of fish. If one released some sort of poison inot the water intended for the lionfish, others will surely effected, and even if it's a poison that specifically effects lionfish, since it's near a reef, with an extremely dense and diverse population of fish, others would probably die as well
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of a double edged sword; morally, you don't want to hurt the fish because they are living animals, but if we don't do anything about it, the reef and fish are endangered. What to do, what to do
ReplyDeleteYikes! What a problem! I wonder how they will fix this. Personally, I don't really care what they do; so long as the other fish, the reefs, and human divers are protected and unharmed in the process, and so long as they find a solution to this problem and get the lionfish situation under control (and possibly to relocate this fish species back to where they came from). Of course we wouldn't want to obliterate the entire lionfish population, but currently they are a parasite and a danger to many other living things, and they are just fish after all, so I think the most important thing is just getting the situation under control rather than trying to preserve them all. As to how to accomplish this......well, I'm certainly stumped!
ReplyDelete-Hannah Selby 4th Period
I hope people learn from this lion fish epidemic and start putting in laws that help prevent or limit species from meeting unknown areas. And while I agree that the lion fish are damaging the environment , we damage the environment at a whole higher level. I don't think this problem will be resolved until we make a change.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they could capture most of the lionfish. I agree that it is humanity's responsibility to clean up the problem they caused. I doubt that there is a way for humans to eat the lionfish (which would be a good use for them if they're just being exterminated) since they are poisonous.
ReplyDelete