Lionfish have multiplied and spread all over the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the United States eastern seaboard since they were first spotted in Florida waters in the mid-1980s. The lionfish is a normal, benign resident in its native Indo-Pacific range—but it is an invasive, voracious and destructive predator in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean, where it has reduced native fish populations by 65 percent since 2004.
A group of 19 women in Belize called Belioness is on a mission to spread awareness about the explosive number of lionfish by taking the spines and using them in jewelry.
“We’re really lucky [the lionfish] is beautiful,” says Jen Chapman, a marine biologist with the conservation organization Blue Ventures. “If it were a cockroach we’d have more of a problem.”
