Divers hold ‘rodeo’ to control lionfish population

WILMINGTON — A North Carolina dive company is recruiting divers for a series of “lionfish rodeos” in hopes of preventing the species native to the Pacific Ocean from damaging Atlantic fishing areas.

For two days starting Monday, Discovery Diving Co. in Beaufort will hold the first annual Cape Lookout Lionfish Rodeo.

Just a handful of the ravenous and venomous lionfish were seen off the state’s Atlantic coast in 2000. Now, lionfish are making life harder for struggling reef fish such as grouper and snapper by stealing their food and eating their young.

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