Quick Details
This specialty is an introduction to lionfish hunting and is to familiarize divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, procedures, techniques, and hazards of lionfish elimination.
Important Note about Certified Lionfish Eliminator Dives vs the Specialty Course
Any diver wishing to spear lionfish on this dive must complete the specialty course on their first trip out with us. Even if you have speared lionfish before, or hold separate certification, it is required by our insurance company that you go through Low Key training with the Low Key staff. Once you have completed the course with Low Key, you can sign up for our weekly dives to explore and help eliminate the lionfish in our local waters.
Description
This specialty is an introduction to lionfish elimination and will familiarize divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, procedures, techniques, and hazards of lionfish elimination. It’s intended to serve as a safe and supervised introduction to invasive Lionfish in the Caribbean. Safety will be emphasized throughout the dives.
The Lionfish Eliminator Distinctive Specialty Course allows PADI Distinctive Specialty Instructors to educate divers about the invasive lionfish problem in the Caribbean, including the essential lionfish facts and their progressive invasion of the Northwestern Atlantic and the Caribbean.
At Low Key Watersports, our staff has always been active participants in eliminating lionfish on our regular reef dives, but on sites outside of our normal dives, we have seen more and more lionfish that need to be removed from our reefs. We have also seen an increased desire from our guests to participate. This course and dives are going to allow any diver who wants to learn about lionfish and wants to participate in helping eliminate them to do it with our instructors in a safe and controlled environment.
The course also explains why action is required now to endeavor to control the population and describes identifying and safely using a pole spear along with behavioral characteristics of the lionfish.
Dive Site Selection
We will be taking the boat to areas not normally on our dive schedule to search for and eliminate the lionfish.
All divers 15 and older are welcome to participate but it’s recommended that you be comfortable with your buoyancy.
Please note that we will make every effort to dive sites with as many lionfish as possible but it’s not guaranteed that we find them. (It would be a great sign if we do not!) We will also try to choose sites that are interesting and engaging new sites for everyone. Part of this experience is that you will be getting to dive sites that no one may have been on in many years and the possibilities of what we will find are limitless.
Note: We will not be diving in the National Park for any of our dives.
Academic Requirement
Once you register for this course, you will be sent a link to the online coursework that is required before the dives. This coursework is included in the cost of the course!
The goals of Caribbean Lionfish Eliminator training are:
- To educate divers about the invasion of lionfish in the Caribbean
- To teach divers to identify invasive lionfish species.
- To teach divers to safely operate pole spears to collect lionfish.
- To have divers display awareness for the environment while capturing lionfish.
- To reduce the population of invasive lionfish affecting tropical reefs.
Equipment
Beyond using basic scuba equipment, we recommend a surface signaling device, such as an inflatable signal tube. You will also be learning to use a pole spear and ZooKeeper to hunt lionfish safely and this equipment is provided as part of this course and any of our official Lionfish Hunting Dives.
Get Your Own Gear
If you would like to have your own gear to hunt lionfish, our friends at ZooKeeper have set our customers up with a coupon code to save you 10% on any purchase. Enter divelowkey10% at checkout to save!
Getting Started
Contact our reservationist for more questions or sign up for a lionfish dive.