The Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) is happy to announce that Foster’s Food Fair- IGA has once again generously donated $20,000 to the cause of the Cayman United Lionfish League (CULL)! The League has been organizing tournaments for over 6 years, where teams compete to cull the very invasive lionfish species that are threatening our remarkable coral reefs. The tournaments have definitely helped to address the problems associated with lionfish invasion. Their success is achieved through partnership with both the public and private sectors, through participation and sponsorship commitments from various entities across the Cayman Islands. CITA began supporting this initiative in 2012, while Foster’s has been supporting the culls from the inception of the League, and has been a Gold Sponsor since March 2014.

“Foster’s IGA utilizes the proceeds from money collected for plastic bags to give back to environmental projects in the Cayman Islands. We feel that the lionfish threat to our natural environment is a great spend of these monies and we are thrilled to work with CULL in keeping this threat at bay while continuing to introduce lionfish as a delicious option on the food scene,” said Julian Foster of Foster’s Food Fair – IGA.

“CITA is very appreciative of Foster’s Food Fair’s commitment to the mission of decreasing the Lionfish population in Cayman’s waters. Through this partnership, stakeholders continue to bring awareness to this important issue while also adding to the menus of Cayman’s restaurants and the palettes of diners. I would also like to say thanks again to the Cayman United Lionfish League who continuously work to further this cause,” says Tiffany Dixon-Ebanks, Executive Director of CITA.

Lionfish are an invasive species and pose a major threat to our fish populations and reefs. They are also voracious eaters so, without intervention their excessive consumption of the small grazer fish on the reefs would continue. Without the grazers, our reefs become threatened from algae overgrowth which can smother the coral. Lionfish are also proficient reproducers (one alone can produce 30,000 eggs every four days) making their population hard to manage. Cayman’s best tactic for managing the lionfish population is to catch the lionfish, and remove them from the reef.

Mark Orr, from the Department of Environment and a member of CULL expresses that, “The Cayman United Lionfish League is very grateful to Foster’s for once again being our gold sponsor for this year’s upcoming tournaments. We see these tournaments as an important part of the efforts to control the lionfish population, as they encourage cullers to travel to areas around the island that are not regularly culled. This allows for a lot more lionfish being removed from our reefs over a short period of time, which has proven to drastically reduce the amount of lionfish in those areas. Foster’s Food Fair — IGA’s donation allows us to incentivize the tournaments by offering cash prizes, which attracts more teams. It also allows us to spread the word about how good lionfish are as table fare, thus increasing the demand for lionfish in restaurants, which all works together to take more lionfish off the reef.”

Every lionfish caught for the tournaments is analyzed by the Department of Environment, and then sold to local restaurants. This makes culling tournaments valuable to our society; environmentally by protecting our shores, scientifically for data gathering, and socially by providing us with a viable local fish to enjoy at restaurants.

The first CULL of 2017 will be held on February 25th and 26th. Weigh-ins will be on both nights from 4:00 — 6:00pm at Macabuca Bar & Grill in West Bay. Tournament t-shirts will be provided to all registered team members, and there will be bar specials each night. Interested members of the public who would like to participate in the cull are invited to register on 23rd February at Macabuca between 5:00 and 8:00pm; a small registration fee of CI$10 per person will be required. For additional information on tournament rules and the registration process, you may contact Mark Orr at [email protected] or on 916-4271.