June 8 at 7pm:   Bob Hickerson, Maria Andreu and Pamela Schofield -  Lionfish, A Perfect Invader?

About the Lecture  

The lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific region, is now established throughout the Caribbean as far south as South America, the Gulf of Mexico, and have been spotted as far north as Long Island and continue to reproduce at an alarming rate. How did this happen? What are the experts saying? What are the consequences? What is presently being done about it? How can we help?

Johnson Education Center, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University,  5600 US 1 North, Fort Pierce, FL.  Telephone 772-242-2506.

About the Speakers

Bob Hickerson and Maria Andreu are both avid scuba divers and underwater photographers. And, until not so long ago, they were quite content to travel to various dive destinations throughout the Caribbean on their family vacations to photograph the local underwater life. But now, they find themselves firmly entrenched in an ongoing and escalating battle to save our precious reef systems from a silent alien invader...the lionfish.

Realizing that for now, at least, divers are the only means of defense against this invasion, Bob and Maria are working on developing specialized collection techniques and tools while sharing this information with other dedicated groups of divers throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Together with their guest from the United States Geological Survey, Research Fishery Biologist Pamela Schofield, Ph.D., you will hear first hand about their encounters with the venomous lionfish.

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