At Sandals Grenada, resort guests can get actively involved in combatting the lionfish invasion in the Caribbean:

At Sandals Grenada, guests with scuba certifications are encouraged to hunt fish — lionfish, specifically — on their holiday. The species is the cane toad of the Caribbean, invasive and multiplying at lightning speed, destroying reefs and commercial fishing industries. The fish has no natural predators and eats marine life 50% bigger than its own body. It will consume any living underwater creature it can fit inside its mouth, stuffing its stomach with more than 30 fish at a time. They also have venomous spines that, according to those who have been stung, are painful beyond belief.

“We have a couple different ways we try to get guests involved [with conservation efforts],” Jonathan Hernould, environmental officer for Sandal’s philanthropic Sandals Foundation, said in an interview. (Mic traveled to Grenada on a trip hosted by Sandals Resorts). “We offer a lionfish hunting dive to our diving guests where they can go out with our dive team and catch, hunt and kill as many lionfish as possible.” Guests are taught to use specialized equipment, including pole spears and zoo keepers, which are plastic boxes in which to store the fish. These vacationers pay $50 to partake in one of these lionfish spear sessions. “The money goes directly back to the Sandals Foundation and lionfish programs we have around the Caribbean,” Hernould said.

For more, read the complete article at Mic.

[Image: Laszlo Ilyes]