PENSACOLA — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s second annual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day is Saturday, May 14.
The occasion raises awareness about lionfish, a nonnative, invasive species that has a potentially negative impact on native species and habitat. The second annual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day Festival — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 14-15 at Plaza de Luna, 900 S. Palafox St., Pensacola — will include celebrity chef and fillet demonstrations, lionfish tastings, family-friendly activities such as games and a fountain to play in, and more than 40 art, diving and conservation vendors.
Among festivities is the Lionfish Challenge kickoff: remove 50 or more lionfish between Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day (May 14) and the end of September and get entered in the FWC’s Lionfish Challenge.
Rewards include:
●A commemorative coin to mark membership
●An event T-shirt
●Lionfish Hall of Fame recognition on MyFWC.com
●Be entered in drawings to win prizes including fishing licenses, lionfish harvesting equipment, fuel cards and dive-tank refills
●If qualified before the relevant harvest season starts, the opportunity to take an additional spiny lobster per day during the 2016 mini-season (July 27-28)
●Whoever checks in the most lionfish will be crowned Florida’s Lionfish King or Queen and will receive a lifetime saltwater fishing license, have his or her photograph featured on the cover of the FWC’s January 2017 Saltwater Regulations publication, be prominently featured on MyFWC.com’s Lionfish Hall of Fame, and be recognized at the November 2016 FWC Commission meeting.
To enter the program, email photos of your first 50 qualifying lionfish to Lionfish@MyFWC.com. Include the harvester’s name, the date harvested and your signature in the photo (written on a piece of paper beside the fish for example) and your mailing address in the email.
To qualify for additional prizes and a chance to win Lionfish King or Queen, bring the tails of any lionfish harvested in excess of the initial 50 to an FWC-approved checkpoint (list coming soon to MyFWC.com/Lionfish by clicking on “Lionfish Challenge and Panhandle Pilot Program”).
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day Festival set May 14-15