Setting the record straight on invasive lionfish control: Culling works
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Conservation Biology, Ecology, Marine Biology, Science Policy
- Keywords
- marine invasions, coral reefs, Pterois volitans, population control
- Copyright
- © 2014 Côté et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2014. Setting the record straight on invasive lionfish control: Culling works. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e398v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.398v1
Abstract
Indo-Pacific lionfish have invaded large parts of the western Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and have already caused measurable declines in native Atlantic reef fauna. Culling efforts are occurring across the region, particularly on coral reefs, to reduce local lionfish abundances. Frequent culling has recently been shown to cause a shift towards more wary and reclusive behaviour by lionfish, which has prompted calls for halting culls. However, the effectiveness of culling per se is not in question. Culling successfully lowers lionfish numbers and has been shown to stabilise or even reverse declines in native prey fish. In fact, partial culling is often as effective as complete local eradication, yet requires significantly less time and effort. Abandoning culling altogether would therefore be seriously misguided and a hindrance to conservation. We offer suggestions for how to design removal programs that minimize behavioural changes and maximize culling success.