KEY LARGO, FLA. – Last week, 14 teams of scuba divers took to the water and collected 1,527 invasive lionfish during the 2024 Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival, hosted by Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Teams fished from sunrise to sunset on Friday, Aug. 16 and Saturday, Aug. 17. On Saturday evening, derby participants and the public gathered at Florida Keys Brewing Company for Invaders on Tap, a lionfish awareness celebration and social with live music, educational activities and games, and lionfish tastings. The derby weekend concluded on Sunday, Aug. 18 at the REEF Campus in Key Largo, with a celebration featuring weigh-in and scoring, cooking and dissection demos, and an awards ceremony for the winners.

More than $6,000 in cash and prizes were awarded to teams who brought in the most, largest, and smallest lionfish. The “Most Lionfish” category included the competitive Apex Predators division and the Reef Defenders division for casual lionfish hunters. Forever Young led the Apex Predators with 321 lionfish. Volitans finished second with 274 lionfish, and Team Trash placed third with 138 lionfish. Fourth, fifth and sixth places went to ZooKeeper Eradicators with 85 lionfish, ZooKeeper Destroyers with 65 lionfish, and The Hunters with 36 lionfish. In the Reef Defenders division, The Stooges won first place with 212 lionfish. Jellyfish Daydreams brought in 159 lionfish for second place, Men of Science won third place with 142 lionfish, and Headshot Jesus placed fourth with 63 lionfish.

Competition was close in the largest and smallest lionfish categories. Team Trash won first place in the “Largest Lionfish” category with a 415 mm fish, just over 16 inches long. Forever Young’s second place fish measured 410 mm, and Volitans won third place with a 402 mm fish. Men of Science had the smallest fish of the derby, which measured 85 mm. Headshot Jesus won second place with a 96 mm fish, and The Stooges brought in a 98 mm fish for third place. Full results from the derby are posted online at https://www.REEF.org/past-derby-results.

Native to the Indo-Pacific, lionfish are an invasive species in the Tropical Western Atlantic, and are negatively impacting native marine life, including important fisheries like grouper and snapper. REEF Lionfish Derbies educate the public about invasive species, gather data about lionfish populations, and promote a consumer market for lionfish. Regular removals events have been found to significantly reduce lionfish populations on a local scale. REEF has been hosting lionfish derbies in the Florida Keys since 2010, and to date more than 70,000 invasive lionfish have been removed from Florida waters during REEF Lionfish Derbies.

“Lionfish derbies are more than just a conservation effort - they're a powerful way to unite the community through excitement, education, and environmental stewardship. We are very thankful to all of the derby participants, event volunteers, and our supporters who make this annual event such a fun success each year,” said Alli Candelmo, Ph.D., REEF Director of Conservation Science.

The 2024 Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival was made possible thanks to Ocean Reef Conservation Association and Florida Keys Brewing Company. Activities occurred within NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary under permit.

REEF will host the 16th annual Florida Keys Lionfish Derby & Festival on September 4-7, 2025. Fishing will take place Sept. 5-6, and the festival will be on Sunday, Sept. 7 at Three Waters Resort & Marina in Islamorada. For more information about REEF Lionfish Derbies, visit www.REEF.org/lionfish-derbies.

About REEF
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) conserves marine environments worldwide. Our mission is to protect biodiversity and ocean life by actively engaging and inspiring the public through citizen science, education, and partnerships with the scientific community. For more information, visit www.REEF.org.

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