War on invasive lionfish in Atlantic waters yields first good news

Scientists say they've made progress in the war on lionfish, a voracious, invasive tropical species that's wiped out most native fish in some Atlantic locales. Researchers at Oregon State University, Canada's Simon Fraser University and other institutions report both computer models and 18 months of field tests on reefs show reducing lionfish numbers by specified amounts -- between 75 percent and 95 percent at the sites they studied -- will allow a rapid recovery of native fish biomass in the treatment area. The rapid spread of lionfish in the Atlantic makes eradication virtually impossible, but controlling their number can give native species the room to recover, an OSU release said Wednesday. "This is excellent news," OSU marine ecologist and study lead author Stephanie Green said. "It shows that by creating safe havens, small pockets of reef where lionfish numbers are kept low, we can help native species recover." With venomous spines, no natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean and aggressive behavior, lionfish -- found originally in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans -- have been shown to eat almost anything smaller than they are. "Many invasions such as lionfish are occurring at a speed and magnitude that outstrips the resources available to contain and eliminate them," the researchers wrote in the journal Ecological Applications. "Our study is the first to demonstrate that for such invasions, complete extirpation is not necessary to minimize negative ecological changes within priority habitats."