The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced a new app that will allow members of the general public to report sightings of Lionfish in Florida waters.
Announcement of the new app was made during a live Twitter chat on 28 May. The first 250 people to use the application to complete an official form will receive a free interactive "Lionfish Control Team" T-Shirt from the group.
The front of the shirt features a logo, with the caption "Be the Predator!" When a smartphone using the correct application is aimed at this logo, it activates a video on the phone, explaining the problem with lionfish in Florida.
The Report Florida Lionfish App is aimed toward fishing enthusiasts, divers and other people who enjoy spending time in and around natural water bodies.
Lionfish are an invasive species in Florida, and the animals are harmful to native plants and animals in the Sunshine State.
The animals are native to Pacific waters, north and east of Australia, as well as the Red Sea. They were first seen in Florida in 1985, near Dania Beach. At that time, biologists believe just a few of the animals lived in the area. Just two decades later, lionfish were seen throughout the state, as well as in Georgia, South Carolina and Bermuda. By 2010, the animals had been recorded in northern regions of the Gulf of Mexico. They are currently found throughout the region, including Central and South America, Cuba and the Bahamas.
They fish are beautiful and poisonous, adorned with horns and quills tipped with toxins, used to capture prey. They are not aggressive toward human beings, but stepping on one of the fish while in the water can be a painful experience.
Amateur environmentalists can submit data about their observations of lionfish using the Report Florida Lionfish App, or online at the FWC Web site.
Included in the application is information about the lionfish, including guidelines for safe handling of the species. It is not often that environmental groups encourage hunting of animals, but the FWC reminds visitors to their lionfish information page that
"Lionfish can be speared, caught in hand-held nets or caught on hook and line and there is no recreational or commercial bag limit."
Data collected through the program will be made publicly available, to assist environmentalists in removing the animals from Florida waters.
"Entries must be recent. Photos of lionfish in tanks or aquariums and pictures of photos are not eligible," FWC officials wrote in a press release, published on their Web site.
Only one free T-shirt will be awarded per household.
The FWC created a new video, announcing the new application, and demonstrating the capabilities of the interactive T-shirt.
