Scourge Of The Lionfish Summary

Scourge of the Lionfish The article that I have chosen to write a summary of is the “Scourge of the Lionfish” article series by Carl Safina located at The New York Times website. There are 4 parts to this article, each basically talking about the invasive species of red lionfish that have taken over the Atlantic by storm, how they are impacting the marine life around the Atlantic, and some different ways fishermen have tried to gain control over the ever increasing population of these voracious predators. The article begins in part 1 by explaining the origin of the red lionfish’s invasion 20 years ago. They first occurred in south Florida and also the Caribbean and are spread out from a very lengthy distance as far down as north eastern

The reef cliffs then serve a good establishing ground for coral polyps to grow from. If the young parrotfish and surgeonfish are in danger of such decline, that also means that coral will ultimately suffer in decline as well which is very bad for many other organisms that depend on coral reefs to strive. There are many factors contributing to the decline of coral reefs such as climate change, water acidification, overfishing, and also pollution. Red lionfish are pushing that decline at a faster pace since their population in the surrounding area and allowing these corals to get smothered with uneaten algae and

The point of the lionfish derby was to shoot lionfish for cash prizes. The prizes ranged from $1,000 for the largest amount of fish shot and $500 prizes for the largest and smallest lionfish shot. There were also $1 prizes for each fish caught. With a handful of boats sailing into the ocean, Safina explains the roughness of the Gulf Stream current and how it was difficult to spear lionfish compared to the locals who had better experience with where the red lionfish were located and managed to spear 1,000 fish in the hunt. Safina reminds the reader that the derby was helpful for the native-fish in those local reef populations and made for a delicious feast, but the lionfish are unfortunately still a big