Fourteen teams of scuba divers took to the water and collected 1,527 invasive lionfish during the 2024 Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF).
Teams fished from sunrise to sunset Aug. 16 and Aug 17. On the evening of the 17th, derby participants and the public gathered at Florida Keys Brewing Co. for “Invaders on Tap,” a lionfish awareness celebration and social event with live music, educational activities, games and lionfish tastings. The derby weekend concluded on 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.
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 and Team Trash placed third with 138. Fourth, fifth and sixth places went to ZooKeeper Eradicators with 85 lionfish, ZooKeeper Destroyers with 65, and the Hunters with 36. In the Reef Defenders division, the Stooges won first place with 212 lionfish. Jellyfish Daydreams brought in 159 for second place, Men of Science won third place with 142, and Headshot Jesus placed fourth with 63.
Competition was close in the largest and smallest lionfish categories. Team Trash won first place in the “Largest Lionfish” category with a 415-millimeter fish, just over 16 inches long. Forever Young’s second-place fish measured 410 millimeters, and Volitans won third place with a 402-millimeter fish. Men of Science had the smallest fish of the derby, which measured 85 millimeters. Headshot Jesus won second place with a 96-millimeter fish, and the Stooges brought in a 98-millimeter fish for third place.
Native to the Indo-Pacific, lionfish are an invasive species in the tropical western Atlantic, and are harming native marine life, including important fisheries like grouper and snapper. REEF lionfish derbies educate the public about invasive species, gather data about lionfish populations and promote a consumer market for lionfish. Regular removal events have been found to significantly reduce lionfish populations on a local scale. REEF has been hosting lionfish derbies in the Florida Keys since 2010, during which more than 70,000 invasive lionfish have been removed from Florida waters.
“Lionfish derbies are more than just a conservation effort,” said Alli Candelmo, REEF director of conservation science. “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.”
The 2024 event was made possible thanks to Ocean Reef Conservation Association and Florida Keys Brewing Co. Activities occurred within NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary under permit.
REEF will host the 16th annual Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival on Sept. 4-7, 2025. Fishing will take place Sept. 5-6, and the festival will be on Sept. 7 at Three Waters Resort & Marina in Islamorada.
More information is at www.REEF.org/lionfish-derbies.
