Who is Lionfish Central?
Lionfish Central is an organization committed to the evaluation, education, and eradication of invasive lionfish from our reefs. It was founded by Scott W. Gonnello to help in the efforts in controlling the lionfish population. He does not want to recreate the wheel, but he does want help out where help is needed.
There are many great organizations around the world doing great work in this field. Unfortunately many of those organizations efforts are only a small part of their overall body of work. In some cases their efforts get lost in the sea of information. We want to help that important information get found easier.
There are also a lot of great ideas with startups but unfortunately a lot of them never reach a sustainable point and end up going out of business. We’ve seen both for profit and nonprofits come and go. We want them to succeed so they can go out and do some great work. We will provide free services to them so they can navigate the challenges of this industry, the internet and the business world.
What is Lionfish Central focused on?
Our central and only focus is on the lionfish. We certainly care about the reefs, corals, vegetation, climate change, etc., but our core mission is focused on the lionfish epidemic. We want to help all the current and future efforts around the world continue to do great work and encourage the public to support them in their efforts. We want all efforts to succeed and we are here to help them do that. By all we mean countries, nonprofits, divers, restaurants and all other groups or organizations right down to individual people.
Our database of lionfish information is an ever expanding project designed as a tool for those wishing to contribute to managing lionfish and natural resources in the waters around the globe. We want to bring the successful efforts into focus and share them with areas that are having challenges succeeding. We encourage everyone to get involved and help in this global fight.
Lionfish Central works in collaboration with other organizations to prevent the further introduction of invasive lionfish. Our organization is dedicated to providing public education and awareness on invasive lionfish, while supporting research efforts focusing on the biology, ecology, impact and control of the species and anything else that can help in our mission. We provide support to organizations who develop tools for localized control, monitoring and management of lionfish in an effort to reduce population densities in high priority areas, such as coral reefs. Our goal is to help others develop a better understanding of the impacts of invasive lionfish on native species and habitats and to protect these species from the direct and indirect effects of lionfish.
