Lionfish Workshops Presented by Biscayne National Park Expert

First lionfish workshop to be presented by Ana Sangroniz

Andre Louon

News Release Date: February 25, 2014

Contact: Matt Johnson, 786-335-3679

Contact: Ana Zangroniz, 305-230-1144, x069

HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – Free lionfish workshops will be presented by Biscayne National Park expert Ana Zangroniz at 7 pm on Friday, February 28, at Grove Scuba, and again at 12 pm on Saturday, March 1, at Divers Direct in Coral Gables. Seats are limited and reservations are required.

The workshops and seminars will cover safe handling, collecting, and diving techniques, lionfish biology and ecology, and the significance and impacts of the lionfish invasion. It is a terrific opportunity to learn more about lionfish and ways to help eradicate these invasive fish.

Those who wish to attend the workshops should reserve seats in advance. For the seminar at 7 pm on Friday, February 28, at Grove Scuba, please call 305-443-1313 to make reservations. Grove Scuba is located at 2809 SW 27th Avenue, Miami, FL 33133. For the seminar at 12 pm on Saturday, March 1, please call 305-661-3300 to make reservations. Divers Direct is located at 425 South Dixie Highway, Coral Gables, FL 33146.

The Indo-Pacific lionfish rapidly spread throughout the waters of the Caribbean and Eastern United States. Lionfish are threats because of their voracious appetites, venomous spines, the competition they pose to native fish species for scarce food resources, and because they have few natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean.

Ana Zangroniz is a graduate student at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, and a full-time lionfish intern at Biscayne National Park. Her primary duties are eradication of invasive lionfish from park and surrounding waters.

For more information about Biscayne National Park, please visit the park website at www.nps.gov/bisc, or follow the park on Facebook at www.facebook.com/biscaynenps, or Twitter at www.twitter.com/biscaynenps.

-NPS-

About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 401 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.