Marathon’s own lionfish hunting savant Rachel Bowman took her talents to Destin, Florida on May 14 and 15 for the Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Tournament, a yearly contest aimed at removing the invasive, destructive and delicious Indo-Pacific fish. Leaving her longtime crew of Team Florida Man, Bowman competed with Team Lionfish University under the sponsorship of the nonprofit of the same name as well as Keys Fisheries. Packing in 81 dives as a team over the course of the tournament, the squad brought 1,274 lionfish back to shore, good enough for a second place overall finish. The team’s 16.85-inch lionfish was the third largest harvested, while a minuscule 2.91-inch fish took sixth place in the smallest lionfish contest. The contest as a whole removed a whopping 13,835 invasive lionfish during tournament and pre-tournament dives.
