Aruba Lionfish Initiative & What They Are Doing in Aruba – An Interview with President Ed Egan

This video is about Ed Egan and Abigail Vrolijk who run Aruba Lionfish Initiative. I had the honor of interviewing them for Lionfish University in Aruba on February 11th, 2020. Ed and Abigail spoke about what ALFI is doing to help with the Lionfish underwater issues and they also discussed future projects they are working on including working with kids in Aruba to educate them about Lionfish, teach them how to dive safely and to protect the beautiful Aruban reefs.

The Aruba Lionfish Initiative was started four years ago in Aruba and I had the honor to be the first tourist volunteer since 2016. Since its inception, ALFI members have removed many invasive Lionfish from the Caribbean waters of Aruba. Restaurants in Aruba are buying the fish from them and in the past four years, they have worked on teaching people that Lionfish are safe to eat.

The problem they encountered in Aruba was that there is only one meaning for venomous and it is that venomous and poisonous are the same. Lionfish are venomous and not poisonous!

In this thirty-eight minute interview you will learn a lot about ALFI and how each week they are adding new members and training certified divers how to hunt Lionfish safely in Aruba. Each week they have a few certification classes where scuba divers learn how to use Lionfish spears and Lionator spears by practicing on shooting potatoes underwater.

You can find the Aruba Lionfish Initiative on Facebook.