More than $76 million is being spent on research at Nova Southeastern University and one big focus of that research is the ocean.
Students and faculty have been looking very closely at one small fish causing havoc, the lionfish. What has them very concerned is that all the well-intentioned efforts to fight the lionfish aren't working.
You've probably seen and heard about lionfish derbies, where divers come together to help clean the waters of this dangerous fish. There's no doubt this invasive species is devastating important fish populations.
"Lionfish are voracious predators, they vacuum the juvenile fish on the reef causing a massive decline and that’s a massive problem in our entire reef ecosystem so we should be worried," said Sam Purkis, with NSU's Halmos College of Oceanography.
NSU faculty and students are studying how ocean currents are helping spread lionfish from the Caribbean to Florida waters, even as far as North Carolina.
While lionfish derbies can temporarily clean up small areas, scientists say their latest research shows these efforts are not working. Researchers say divers are missing key lionfish populations and just can't reach critical deep waters.
"If we’re not controlling these deep lionfish that are providing larvae to the shallow areas we’re never going to really fix the problem, cause we’re always going to have more drifting in," NSU's Matt Johnston said.
Scientists hope new technology, such as special traps, will be developed for deep waters. They also say it will take a lot of coordinated diving efforts, especially in the Caribbean and Bahamas, to stop the invasion of Florida's already fragile reefs.
Researchers say hurricanes are also speeding up the spread of lionfish because storms alter currents, essentially creating an express lane for the fish to move into new areas.
