Lionfish Population Reduced in 2024 Derby

Being underwater is always a pleasure. Doing good at the same time makes it even more so. Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) hosted its 2024 Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, where fourteen teams snagged 1,527 of the invasive species.

Despite their alluring appearance and popularity in aquariums, lionfish continue to impact marine life in the Tropical Western Atlantic. They voraciously devour small crustaceans and fish, including the young of important local commercial species such as snapper and grouper. Among REEF’s other efforts to preserve our waters, they established the derbies held in multiple places at different times of the year.

The Key Largo event, which took place over the weekend of Friday, August 16th through Sunday, August 18th, was once again a blend of fishing and fun. REEF reported the results in a news release: “More than $6,000 in cash and prizes were awarded to teams who brought in the most, largest, and smallest lionfish. The "Most Lionfish" category included the competitive Apex Predators division and the Reef Defenders division for casual lionfish hunters. Forever Young led the Apex Predators with 321 lionfish. Volitans finished second with 274 lionfish, and Team Trash placed third with 138 lionfish. Fourth, fifth, and sixth places went to ZooKeeper Eradicators with 85 lionfish, ZooKeeper Destroyers with 65 lionfish, and The Hunters with 36 lionfish. In the Reef Defenders division, The Stooges won first place with 212 lionfish. Jellyfish Daydreams brought in 159 lionfish for second place, Men of Science won third place with 142 lionfish, and Headshot Jesus placed fourth with 63 lionfish. The competition was close in the largest and smallest lionfish categories. Team Trash won first place in the ‘Largest Lionfish’ category with a 415 mm fish, just over 16 inches long. Forever Young's second-place fish measured 410 mm, and Volitans won third place with a 402 mm fish. Men of Science had the smallest fish in the derby, which measured 85 mm. Headshot Jesus won second place with a 96 mm fish, and The Stooges brought in a 98 mm fish for third place.”

While the collection of the fish is done by teams, the public joins in for post-fishing activities. This year, there were two separate gatherings. “Saturday was at Florida Keys Brewing Company for Invaders on Tap, a lionfish awareness celebration and social with live music, educational activities and games, and lionfish tastings. The derby weekend concluded on Sunday, Aug. 18 at the REEF Campus in Key Largo, with a celebration featuring weigh-in and scoring, cooking and dissection demos, and an awards ceremony for the winners.”

Alli Candelmo, Ph.D., REEF Director of Conservation Science, appreciates the efforts of the REEF staff and support from the Ocean Reef Conservation Association and Florida Keys Brewing Company. She said "Lionfish derbies are more than just a conservation effort - they're a powerful way to unite the community through excitement, education, and environmental stewardship. We are very thankful to all of the derby participants, event volunteers, and our supporters who make this annual event such a fun success each year."

Collection activities occurred within NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary under permit and September 4-7, 2025, is the next scheduled local Lionfish Derby & Festival. For those who love numbers, results from all derbies are posted at https://www.reef.org/past-derby-results.

Established in 1990, the dedicated staff and volunteers work year-round with programs for all ages to carry out their mission of, “REEF conserves marine environments worldwide. Our mission is to protect biodiversity and ocean life by actively engaging and inspiring the public through citizen science, education, and partnerships with the scientific community.”

For details of their opportunities to become “citizen scientists,” go to https://www.reef.org or plan a visit to the headquarters at 98300 Overseas Hwy, Key Largo, FL 33037; Phone: 305-852-0030