Looking for a New Lionfish Adventure to Kick Start You AND the New Year? Hurry!

The Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Tournament organizers just announced their 2022 Lionfish Tourney in Destin, Florida, so now is a great time to reserve your spot and get in on the perks of early registration! 

                             Donnie Brzuska ridding the oceans of the invasives, one lionfish at a time. 

Donnie Brzuska is the perfect example and proof positive how fun and easy it is to get hooked (pun intended) on this sport.  He and his wife, Milisa grew up in Florida so he said they “saw firsthand the destruction lionfish caused to our marine ecosystem.  They can decimate an entire reef, shipwreck or underwater habitat if left unchecked."

Sous Chef, Brian Barber was one of the first to promote preparing the lionfish for adventurous foodies to eat, and let me get a really close shot of this one that he had in the cooler at Fleet Landing Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina

As soon as Brian educated me on how fast these fish were reproducing and how dangerous they were to our ecosystem, and that this one was only a short distance from the SC coast, I too was hooked on trying to help mitigate the damage they were causing.

 The ECO's impressive pre-tournament Kickoff sounds like a great place to be when the fun begins January 28, 2022, to help with their vigilant and tireless initiative to round them up and out of our waters.  Boat captains, other avid lionfish hunters, and all-things-lionfish converge to spend an evening with fun, great food and drink.  Dedicated chefs are already working on a variety of tasty lionfish appetizers to serve there the ECO organizers say.  Call your friends and form your teams now, and if you haven't yet tasted this delicious fish, be prepared to amaze your tastebuds and your psyche.   

There’s an opportunity for everyone to participate, from the first-timer, to the most adventurous spear fishermen and women, to the dedicated volunteers wanting to meet more like-minded people and help maximize the impact of the tournament participants and ECO.

Visit: https://emeraldcoastopen.com for a list of prizes and complete information about the 4 easy steps to participate in this exciting adventure to get the lions’ out of the water and onto the plate.  Or as ECO puts it, from the gulf to your table.

If enriching your 2022 with new friends and exciting volunteer experiences is on your list, this is the perfect new years resolution.  Visit http://emeraldcoastopen.com/volunteer/ to choose the opportunity that’s best for you.  You can also email: info@emeraldcoastopen.com or call (850)529-2475.

The Pre-tournament fishing launches February 1 at daylight and goes through May 12.  Then things really heat up and the real fun and competition begins May 14-May 15 in the main tournament.  Historically, the ECO Lionfish Tourney participants remove an impressive 14,000+ lionfish during the competition.

Donnie says, "my diving experience is purely recreational,” even though he's been in the US Coast Guard for 21 years.  He says, "I serve at an expeditionary antiterrorism/force protection unit, but I don’t dive for work."  When he’s not protecting the U.S and allied naval vessels and ports from terrorism and sabotage around the world he says, he’s enjoying all the water sports he can find. 

When he and Milisa chartered a sailboat, the Tabula Rasa, off St. Croix with Captain Jack and First mate Kasey "it was a given" he said, "that we did a lot of snorkeling and diving on the sailboat, and they had spearfishing gear aboard. My Buddy, Rob Mueller, was actually the first to spot the lionfish. He’s another longtime Florida native and also knew about efforts to eradicate them from the Caribbean.”  Donnie said he just happened to be the only one with a spear at that moment and snagged him.  Lionfish unfortunately mostly hover, swim slowly or just float and blend in with their surroundings, so Donnie said he "gives all the credit to his sharp-eyed best friend."  And that he and Rob spearfished lionfish all week.  Milisa proudly snapped this great photo of her lionfish wrangling hubs and sent it to me to share. 

The other complication of reducing the lionfish population, is that they have no particular predators.  Except dedicated spear fishermen, intent on reducing their numbers.  There's no need for the fish to waste their energy pursuing a baited hook either.  They merely float in a holding pattern more less by the reefs and wait for the small fish to bump into their toxic spines divers tell me.  Unlike the Puffer and Stone fish however, they're not categorized as poisonous according to the researchers and scientists I interviewed.  They said the toxin is contained in the lions' spines, so once the spines are removed, the fish is safe. I found it delicious to eat and offering a variety of ways to prepare it, along with sauces that run the gamut from savory to sweet because of its mild flavor.  The latest intriguing recipe I discovered was a restaurant that skipped the whole spine removal process and simply deep fried it whole.  Spines and all!  You can imagine the presentation of that meal. 

As news spreads of how devastating the lionfish can be to our ecology and our economy, more watermen are becoming more knowledgeable about how they can contribute to mitigating the spread of these quickly reproducing fish.  Donnie said, “Captain Jack (on the Tabula Rasa) was a dive master and experienced waterman and helped us on all of our adventures.”  When I asked Donnie, “What motivated or inspired you to take on those dastardly lionfish spines?!” he answered without hesitation, “They are an invasive species who decimate the marine environment throughout the Caribbean, Gulf, and portions of the Atlantic. It’s every diver's responsibility to eradicate these fish from our waters.” He said, "I’ve been spearfishing for about 12 years,” and that it wasn’t his first-time hunting lions’.  When I asked him, “Will you go again?”  He responded immediately with an enthusiastic, “Heck, yeah!”

‘Nuf said.  Go to the ECO website and register for this exciting tournament and all the fun it offers, plus it's for a great cause.  Win and win!  Getting these hungry invasives that destroy our reefs and are drastically reducing the juvenile populations of favorites on our dinner plates - like the giant Groupers, is another great reason to join in the fun with ECO this new year.  

For photos and more information about these beautiful but deadly fish and how to catch and eat these invasives, visit my previous post here on blogspot, dated December 4, 2020, “Taming the Lions’ on the Southern Atlantic Coast.”  Happy hunting!

Thank you to Milisa Brzuska for the dynamic photo of Donnie.  The rest of the photos and narrative are mine provided here for you to enjoy and be inspired.  

More Links!

Visit the Emerald Coast's facebook page at, https://www.facebook.com/EmeraldCoastOpen/ for the latest information on this tournament and the organization's mission and new activities

Visit @DonnieBrzuska on Twitter and on his facebook page for more information about the US Coast Guard and what Donnie's up to of late.