SEALEG Lionfish Eradication Project

The South East American Lionfish Eradication Group (SEALEG) was founded to bring the dive community, marine conservation organizations, universities, commercial fishermen, premium restaurants, and premium food retailers together to combat invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) in America’s sensitive coastal waters.

WHY LIONFISH:
Simply put, the lionfish invasion presents one of the greatest threats that western Atlantic reefs have seen in modern times.  In absence of coordinated, wide-scale efforts, the lionfish invasion may very well lead to the depletion of important commercial food stocks, loss of critical tourism revenue, and localized ecosystem collapse.

·         Lionfish are non-native to the coastal waters of the eastern United States and Caribbean.

·         Lionfish have no natural predators in their non-native habitat; their population has been growing unchecked for more than thirty years.

·         Lionfish reproduce rapidly; they produce 30,000 – 40,000 eggs every few days and are sexually mature by one-year-old.

·         Lionfish are voracious eaters and consume…

 …up to 79% of native juvenile fish on a healthy reef in a five-week period.

 …over one-hundred individual species of fish.  A single lionfish has been found with over thirty different species of fish in its stomach at one time.

 …fish up to one-half of their body length.  Lionfish can expand their stomach volume over thirty timeswhen consuming a large meal.

 
The lionfish invasion is so prolific that NOAA has deemed total eradication to be impossible.  At SEALEG, while we recognize the enormity of the problem, we respectfully disagree.

SEALEG PHILOSOPHY:
SEALEG believes that by using coordinated, wide-scale, and innovative modern methods and tools, total eradication of lionfish in their non-native habitat may be possible.  Our philosophy behind this belief is simple:

“When (a) a powerful financial motivator and (b) a lack of regulation or adequate enforcement both apply to a specific species or group of species, unsustainable human exploitation is sure to follow.”

Normally, this is a bad thing, to say the least.  This simple philosophy is the underlying reason behind the overfishing of Atlantic Halibut, the barbaric practice of shark finning, and the atrocities witnessed annually in Taiji, Japan.  The unique, multi-billion-dollar markets supported by each of these examples of unsustainable human exploitation is proof positive of the power of this concept.

But what if we used that power for good?  At its most simplistic, that is exactly what SEALEG proposes to do; take a concept traditionally associated with negative exploitation and make it work for, instead of against, the preservation and long-term health of our environment.

SEALEG METHODOLOGY:
With growing recognition of the lionfish threat, an extremely favorable regulatory environment already exists.  In most areas, there are no size, slot, or bag limits for lionfish.  All that’s missing is a powerful financial motivator.
 
By focusing on three distinct areas, SEALEG proposes to build and sustain a scalable commercial market for lionfish:

1.       Compensation-based individual lionfish collection efforts.

2.       Profitable and wide-scale lionfish processing, resale, and consumption as a foodstuff.

3.       Continued research and development into lionfish traps and inexpensive commercial collection techniques.
 
Efforts to grow each SEALEG focus area are already well underway:

·         On May 14th, at a private event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, SEALEG will soft-launch our mobile application for Android and iOS.  This application is designed to handle the “heavy lifting” associated with making a market.  The SEALEG app will network divers and dive operators interested in hunting lionfish, provide a platform for compensating divers for their catch, collect important scientific data for redistribution to NOAA and local universities, and direct interested parties to restaurants and retailers where they can purchase lionfish products.

·         SEALEG is actively scouting for property to place our first licensed lionfish processing and distribution center in South Florida.  From this base of operations, we will coordinate internal dive operations, provide customer support for the SEALEG app, prepare packaged lionfish food products for regional consumption, and assist NOAA with research activities.  We anticipate moving into our new headquarters no later than August 2016.

·         SEALEG has retained an engineer with decades of experience in electronic engineering and commercial automation to spearhead (pun intended) our trapping and commercial collection program.  The solution to effectively trapping lionfish without creating unintended bycatch has yet to be found but is a critical next step to scaling eradication efforts.

SEALEG FUNDING:
SEALEG is an entity registered in Delaware, USA that has applied for and is expecting federal non-profit status by June 2016.  All funding to date has come directly from the pockets of the five founding Directors.  Obviously, at some point in the near future, we will need funding from outside sources to continue our efforts.  Here is what we’re working on: 

·         SEALEG applied for a three year, $1,300,000 habitat restoration grant from NOAA.  NOAA is keenly aware of the dangers posed by the lionfish invasion and believes a comprehensive approach (like ours) may have the best chance of successfully combatting the scourge.  Without going into detail, we’re optimistic about our chances of receiving partial funding from NOAA… but, by no means, are we counting on grant funding as a certainty.

·         SEALEG has pre-purchase commitments from a dozen restaurants for almost 15,000lbs of processed and packaged lionfish food products and is actively negotiating with several restaurant groups for almost 40,000lbs more.  Using these pre-purchase commitments as surety, SEALEG may seek outside investors to help us through the first year or so.

·         The value of individual and institutional donations cannot be overstated.  SEALEG hopes to receive $80,000 from two institutional philanthropists before the end of May 2016 and, using private fundraising events and sites like GoFundMe, we hope to raise considerably more through concerned individuals like you.

CONCLUSION:
On behalf of the SEALEG Board of Directors, I thank you for taking the time to learn more about SEALEG.  I hope that you will consider making a donation.  We understand that money is a hard thing to come by and a harder thing to part with.  If you have any questions or would like additional information, please feel free to contact us at [email redacted].  

Two parting thoughts:
1.       The next time you see lionfish in a restaurant or food retailer, remember that for every pound of lionfish you consume, you preserve 269.10 square feet of critical reef habitat.  So eat up.  The average American can save approximately 1/10 acre of reef ecosystem annually without increasing their overall consumption of fish.

2.       At an average proportional funding cost of less than $95 per acre, SEALEG is one of the most cost effective habitat restoration programs to ever be considered for federal funding.  It’s a damn good “bang for your buck”, too.

Fair winds and following seas,

The SEALEG Board of Directors