Listener Lyric unit
For this unit, we had to write a research-based essay on a topic we were passionate about. I chose to write about the coral reef and one of the big problems that are affecting it.
Lyrical Essay
The Spiked Mennis
Hundreds of boats line the shores, of Destin-Fort Walton in Florida, The smell of grilled fish fills the air. You can hear the sounds of people happily chatting as they go from booth to booth sampling the food or taking part in the many games they offer. Today is the day of the FWC(Florida Wildlife Commission) annual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Festival and Tournament. Back on the boats, the sound of the people is replaced by the various sounds of dive equipment being prepared, checked, and tested. Each of the boats carries a team of up to 10 divers all with the intent of catching as many Lionfish as possible before the Sunset of that day. During these events, there are no bag limits so the divers are free to catch as many Lionfish that they see. .
But why the Lionfish? Isn’t this inhumane? One might be asking when hearing about this. Well, let me inform you. The Lionfish is one of the worst threats the coral reefs are currently facing. It’s so bad in fact that the FWC put a $5,000 bounty on Lionfish found in the coral reefs. Lionfish are an extremely invasive species where one female can produce up to 2 million eggs a year. They are also very aggressive fish with no natural pretors that live in the reef so there is nothing to keep the Lionfish in check. The Lionfish eats the small fish who protect the reef and are essential for keeping it healthy. Without these fish, the coral reefs turn into something like this.
Not very pretty right. It’s for all these reasons that the Lionfish Removal and Awareness Festival are essential to getting the lionfish infestation under control. Festivals like this have sprouted up all over Florida and other parts of the world all with the hope of protecting the reef from these prickly invaders. These festivals while are helping to hold back the Lionfish unfortunately aren’t enough to stop the invasion but there is hope. People have begun coming up with new ways to try to deal with the lionfish ranging from training sharks to eat them and making robots that can hunt the lionfish in depts humans can’t easily reach. As we learn more about the lionfish and continue to come up with newer ways of dealing with them the chances of us defeating them get’s better and better. Until one day we can defeat these invaders and eliminate one of the many threats the reefs face today.
Ambition Statement
My goal for writing the essay was to rase awareness about the lion fish and the effect it has on the coral reefs. There are many things that are negatively effecting the coral reefs such as pollution and climet change but there are other smaller porblems that still have huge effects on the reefs. For me personally having seen the result of these events on the reefs its truly hart braking so I wanted to share with people some of the smaller threats to them. I decided to focus on the lionfish because it has one of the biggest growing effects on the coral reefs. While reachering this topic I learnt a lot of interesting things such as the $5,000 bountie on the lion fish aswell as just how big o
Bibliography
29, Posted by Craig RaleighJune. “Lionfish Removal in Florida Now Comes With a $5,000 Bounty.” Wide Open Spaces, June 28, 2018. https://www.wideopenspaces.com/lionfish-removal-in-florida-now-comes-with-a-5000-bounty/.
“Lionfish Are Destroying Our Coral Reefs.” Planting Peace, July 25, 2015. https://www.plantingpeace.org/2015/07/lionfish/.
“Lionfish Festival,” Reef Rangers, accessed December 10, 2020, https://fwcreefrangers.com/about/lionfish-festival/.
“Toxic Invaders: The Problem With Lionfish (Wildlife Documentary): The Blue Realm: Real Wild.” YouTube, February 21, 2019. https://youtu.be/p8DN2byVBn0.
“This Robot Hunts Invasive Lionfish.” YouTube, April 21, 2017. https://youtu.be/V1CT2prWVtc.