A derby dedicated to reducing the invasive lionfish in the waters off the Florida Keys will culminate with a free, family-friendly conservation science and arts festival on April 27.
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) is gearing up for the annual Florida Keys Lionfish Derby, which begins Thursday, April 24 with a captains’ meeting for registered derby teams from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Florida Keys Brewing Co. in Islamorada. For those who can’t attend in person, a link will be sent out to registrants to appear via Zoom. The hunt for lionfish begins at sunrise on Friday, April 25 and ends at sundown on Saturday, April 26.
An official team weigh-in and fish drop will take place between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 27 at the REEF campus, 98300 Overseas Highway in Key Largo. The Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Arts Festival kicks off at noon with various activities, food and entertainment. An awards ceremony will be held at 3 p.m.
The festivities include lionfish scoring, fillet and dissection demonstrations, lionfish tastings, food trucks, drinks and games. More than 20 vendors will be on hand. There will also be live music and science demonstrations. Festivities conclude at 4 p.m.
Those wishing to register a team (minimum of two people and maximum of four) for the lionfish derby can do so by 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 24. The cost is $120 per team.
Last year, 14 teams of scuba divers took to the water and collected 1,527 invasive lionfish.
For more information, visit reef.org/lionfishfestival.
