We are pleased to announce that the partnership between the project and The ZAA has taken a big step in the realization of our common goals and visions.

For those of you not familiar with the organization, they have a simple straight on approach with their mission:

“Our Mission is to promote the responsible ownership, management, and propagation of animals in both private and public domains.”

This is the organization that invited us to speak at their November, 2009 conference in Kansas. At that conference we got a really good feel about the organization. To be honest, ours wasn’t as defined as we had hoped it would be at that point, but we knew that it had to have the support and participation of an organization like the ZAA.

THE ZAA’S STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES:

• Establish professional standards for husbandry and animal care practices.
• Maintain accurate animal and medical records.
• Enhance the survival of species by the use of appropriate methods.
• Maintain an appropriate, safe, and quality existence for animals in captive environments.
• Establish safety measures for staff, visitors and animals to prevent injury and disease.

In addition, ZAA members are ethically bound to support and implement the Mission and Objectives of ZAA as outlined in the Mission and Objective Statements, and in general to:

• Promote the interest of wildlife conservation and biodiversity to society at large.
• Promote and encourage research and scientific method application toward the betterment of wildlife populations – their husbandry, care and conservation – both in managed environments and wild ecosystems.
• Cooperate with colleagues and the broader conservation community including private and public entities, breeders, zoological parks, game parks and ranches, sanctuaries, aquariums, museums, wildlife agencies and associated management programs, academic and field researchers and others in an effort to assist in global biodiversity in both managed and wild animal populations.
• Promote and encourage sustainability of animal populations by sound economic practices and “conservation through commerce” in order to practically and realistically help insure long-term viability of wildlife populations through sensible and comprehensive sustainable yield and renewable resource management practices.
• Fairly recognize all colleagues and stakeholders engaged in validly-based resource management and accommodate implementation of the many and various, legitimate and proven methods for sustainable yield wildlife and habitat management.
• Fairly recognize and accept responsibilities for implementation of scientifically based decisions, actions and methods in species management practices as having priority over the possibilities of emotion-based-only choices.
• Act in accordance with all local, national and international laws in all endeavors and especially as it pertains to the health and well-being of wildlife populations and conservation of natural resources.
• Conduct all affairs with a high degree of professionalism and with honesty, integrity and fairness to all concerned.

Read more Here.

The
“most disastrous marine invasion in history,”

or at least that is the potential impace of the beautiful but deadly Lionfish (Pterois volitans).

The Lionfish has so many things going for it’s potential takeover of the reef.

• Within 36 hours of successful breeding, between 4,000 and 30,000 lionfish eggs have already hatched and the fry are feeding on plankton.
• Currently, little data is available about predation on Lionfish.  I am putting video up of animals predating on lionfish here.
• Lionfish feed on a wide variety of Prey, and eat large quantities of baby and small reef fish (I one time found 15 baby reef fish in the stomach of one 10cm specimen)!

So to answer the question…

Nobody knows the impact of the lionfish at this stage.

I have been in the waters just under the word “Panama” in the graphic to the right, and I see them eating and spreading rapidly through our ecosystem, so I can say with no doubt that the lionfish in fact will have an impact on reefs as we know them.  The fact that we don’t know, creates even more urgency for support of programs like ours.  We are starting monitoring and microhabitat studies in September in conjunction with the Government of Costa Rica and the US Government.

In fact, we are going to begin shipping the lionfish to the United States as part of the NOAA’s “Eat Lionfish!” campaign.  While you are eating one of the most tasty fish I have ever eaten, you will be directly supporting the conservation efforts in the caribbean.

To Donate to this project, please enter your info below.  Every $25 dollars donated allows us to go out into the reefs and study these animals so we can understand them better, conserving our vital reefs in the process.

I will tell you I have been “stung” four or five times by this animal.  It always seems to be the dorsal fin that gets me (for this reason I will strongly suggest you don’t handle these animals at all).  To describe the sting, I would have to say it is something like what I would expect a blow from a ball peen hammer to inflict.  Let me also be the first to post this in public:

Sticking your hand down your shorts and urinating on your hand doesn’t do ANY good!

So Beautiful, yet so deadly for reef fishes

Just like in snakes, these animals are “venomous” and not “poisonous.”  This means that the tips of their spines secrete a venom when they push through your rediculously thin gloves while trying to manipulate an obviously upset fish off a metal pole in thirty feet of water crashing over the reef in a spot called “SALSA BRAVA.”  Yup….. guess what that means?

While the mood of this post is a little lighthearted, the fact that every fish I find has MULTIPLE baby reef fish in it’s stomach, it is a sobering and scary thought about the potential of the lionfish on reefs worldwide.  I even pulled one 10cm (thats only about 4 inches) animal that had 15 one inch parrotfish in it’s stomach.

So what is a lionfish?

To me, someone who has worked with animals all my adult life, the lionfish can be so many things.  True, it is an invasive species, it is a threat to reefs worldwide, it is a venomous fish which should be treated with respect in the wild.  To me though, the lionfish gives us as conservationists, and even the human race options for so much more.

Since it lives so deep in the ocean (hundreds of feet down) below the realistic depth scuba divers can go, the animal is a truly sustainable food source.  I can say from first hand experience, an area that gets “eradicated” will be filled back up within weeks if not days.

Project Green Jungle is at the forefront with a select few individuals, organizations, and even governments in the commercial collection, preparation, and shipping of this gourmet fish.  Commercial Markets in the US and abroad will be directly funding conservation of reefs throughout the Caribbean, promoting a value and vision Project Green Jungle and the Florida International Teaching Zoo has held since DAY ONE:

Conservation is most effectively driven by consumers via reponsible commercial markets

Ulisses Teaching Local Children about the Lionfish

For every $25 donated, we can spend one half day studying Lionfish. Your donation is tax deductible in the US.

Lionfish Project Donors:

The monkeys were found during random checks, when the man appeared to be edgy.  The Titi Monkeys (Callicebus spp.) are regulated by the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).  This genus of monkeys has doubled since the recent classifications of new species in the Amazon.

Parismina has been a priority for Project Green Jungle because of the problems with poaching.  This remote beach is a nesting home for the world’s sea turtles.  Historically Parismina has been the site of looting and poaching of eggs, even the endangered Leatherback.

Individuals with a drug problem have been purported to be paid in crack for a nest of leatherback eggs.  With only 1 in 1000 reaching adulthood anyways, this can have an incredible impact on the amount of animals making it even into the water, let alone adulthood.

When I was there last year, we were told that poachers get about $25 dollars worth of crack per nest (about 100 eggs).  They are then sold elsewhere for a few dollars a piece, creating an environmental disaster for around 250 dollars.

Please email Juliana here if you are going to be in Costa Rica and would like to take part in their programs.

From underneath, you can certainly get a sense of why Salsa Brava is given it’s name.  The waters are around 50 feet deep with a sheer face of coral for the first fifteen feet then large caverns underneath.  This is where we generally find the biggest animals.  They are generally in a pair, and sit in little divots up on the roof of these underwater caverns and overhangs.

We nabbed a couple more on the way in to shore bringing the total count today to 7 animals and 15 ounces of cleaned filets which were pan fried and served over fresh mixed vegetables with a thai fish sauce.   Tomorrow we hope to go out and take some pictures.  Anyone else getting any?

Travelers apparently can still walk across the border, but the problem comes after the border.  The strikers have erected barriers which don’t allow vehicles to pass.

There is a meeting scheduled for Saturday, July 10th at the University of Panama.  The meeting hopes to to create solidarity with the workers, andd agree on a new national mobilization and picketing plan for a general strike.  According to reports, they plan to demand the immediate release of around 30 workers who have already been arrested.

Local newspapers and reports go so far to call the Panamanian president,  Ricardo Martinelli, a coward for heading to Italy and then the World Cup, instead of dealing with these problems. Rumor has it that Martinelli has signed a warrant for the arrest of SUNTRACS and FRENADESO union leaders.

Seems to me those might be the headlines in the papers of the near future.  Whether it is true or not remains to be seen.  I personally think there is some potential to that bold headline.  These fish are the trailer trash of the world’s coral, if reefs had Wal-Marts, these mass consumers of the reefs baby fishes could be the next entree in the hottest and most expensive restaurants throughout the world.

To tell you the truth, lionfish is very tasty.  This is another reason I think lionfish have the potential to make an impact in the seafood market. There is a ton of ways to cook this fish.  Of course there are quite a few variables left unknown that won’t allow us to see… yet.  In the meantime, I will keep going out and monitoring the reefs around here.  We have been in contact with some people lately, and it seems there is the beginnings of some organization internationally on trying some new ways to eradicate.

Because of the super fast explosion of these animals on the worlds many reefs, it looks like human interaction and predation may be one of the only known techniques that seem promising.  If that doesn’t change, commercial markets will be the only option for supporting the eradication.

Locally, because of the ease of capture, the fishing should be promoted and the young educated about how this fish could be utilized in a sustainable way.

Anyway, like I was sayin’, lionfish is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, lionfish-kabobs, lionfish creole, lionfish gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple lionfish, lemon lionfish, coconut lionfish, pepper lionfish, lionfish soup, lionfish stew, lionfish salad, lionfish and potatoes, lionfish burger, lionfish sandwich. That- that’s about it.

Take part in a live conversation about our techniques, or let us know what your techniques are.  We are looking to spread different ideas and ways of eradicating these fish from their unnative waters.  Currently our eradication is taking part between Cocles Beach, and Playa Negra in Talamanca, Costa Rica.  Puerto Viejo is the name of the town we are working in, and this Caribbean town and it’s reefs are under siege by Lionfish.

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