Kralendijk – For over ten years, STINAPA Bonaire has been conducting lionfish density surveys to monitor how the population of this invasive species has been changing on our reefs. After many years with fewer than 40 fish per hectare (100m2) of the reef, the results from 2021 showed an increase in density. There are many reasons why this could be. From active lionfish hunters, like dive masters and dive instructors, having less time to hunt due to the reopening of the island, to dedicated long-term volunteers spending more time off the island and less time hunting.

STINAPA will be organizing a presentation soon to present more in-depth data about the survey, the results and look for ways to move forward. In November 2022, we will conduct the survey again to see if this increase is an outlier or indicates an actual increase in the density. In the graph above, you can see the density since the start of the monitoring in 2011 as well as three years of data from Curacao.

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