The lionfish culling program in Sint Eustatius island, dutch caribbean

Msc. thesis

Research questions:

• →  Does the culling program significantly reduce the lionfish population in St Eustatius? The aims of this question are: (i) to prove the efficiency of the removal effort, while describing any evolution of the lionfish population, (ii) to bring out the site where it is necessary to focus the culling program, (iii) to make recommendations to improve the efficiency of the current culling program.
• →  What can we learn with the culling program data about the lionfish and its behavior? This second part aims to learn more about the lionfish on Statia and to compare the results with other data due to (i) the identification of the diet composition and feeding behavior of the lionfish by analyzing their stomach content and (ii) the determination of the size distribution of the lionfish on Statia. 

Please contact STENAPA (research@statiapark.org)